As the latest fallout in the epic Charlie Sheen drama continues, following CBS’ Thursday night cancellation of “Two and a Half Men,” Access Hollywood has new information Friday morning regarding the rumors that the embattled actor is heading to HBO and that his hit show’s crew is completely out of work.
Charlie reportedly told RadarOnline on Thursday evening that he is “close to securing a deal with HBO” for an “epic” new show.
However, the cable network has denied his claim.
“According to HBO, there is no truth to this report,” a spokesperson for the network told Access Hollywood on Friday. Both HBO and “Two and a Half Men’s,” production company, Warner Bros. Television, are owned by Time Warner.
Additionally, while CBS’ decision to halt production has left Charlie and his co-stars temporarily out of work, the decision has also impacted the show’s crew.
A source close to “Two and a Half Men” tells Access that the show’s crew will not be completely out of a job now that their show has been canceled for the rest of the season – rather, they will continue to work on Chuck Lorre’s other Warner Bros./CBS sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory.” The beleaguered crew will, however, suffer a large pay cut of about 15 percent, in going from two shows to one, according to the source.
A rep for Warner Bros. was not immediately available for comment regarding the alleged pay cut when contacted by Access on Friday.
CBS announced they were pulling the plug on “Two and a Half Men” on Thursday, following the latest in a string of outrageous radio rants by the actor, in which he told radio host Alex Jones, “I was told if I went on the attack, they would cancel the show and all that and so I’m just sort of seeing if they’re telling the truth or not,” referring to his CBS bosses.
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On Friday morning, the actor reportedly also sent ABC’s “Good Morning America” a series of text messages, claiming he is “100 percent clean” and “plans to show up for work” despite the fact that CBS has temporarily canceled the show.
In his interview with “The Alex Jones Show” on Thursday, as well as in an open letter to TMZ, Charlie referred to the sitcom’s creator, Chuck Lorre, as “Haim [Chaim] Levine,” prompting some to suggest he was using an anti-Semitic slur aimed at Lorre’s Jewish background.
In a follow-up statement to TMZ on Friday, Charlie claimed he was simply referencing Lorre’s given Hebrew name.
“I was referring to Chuck by his real name, because I wanted to address the man, not the bulls–t TV persona,” Charlie told TMZ on Friday. “So you’re telling me, anytime someone calls me Carlos Estevez, I can claim they are anti-Latino?”
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