Charlie Sheen filed suit Thursday against former employers Chuck Lorre and Warner Bros. over his firing from the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men. Sheen, who says that the executive producer and studio behind the show colluded to illegally fire him while he was sick, is seeking $100 million in compensation for episodes that were canceled, plus damages.
“Defendant Chuck Lorre, one of the richest men in television who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, believes himself to be so wealthy and powerful that he can unilaterally decide to take money away from the dedicated cast and crew . . . in order to serve his own ego and self-interest, and make the star of the series the scapegoat for Lorre’s own conduct,” Sheen alleges, according to a copy of the complaint posted by TMZ.
Warner Bros. terminated Sheen’s contract Monday in the wake of the actor’s spectacular meltdown. Sheen first began slamming Lorre during a series of media appearances late last month, after which remaining episodes of the show’s current season were canceled.
The suit lays the blame for the early ending on Lorre and Warner Bros, claiming they decided to truncate the season “weeks before Mr. Sheen publicly criticized Lorre.”
Sheen, for his part, seemed to continue to enjoy the fight. “Torpedo away . . . You corporate Trolls were warned. And now you’ve been served!” he tweeted Thursday.
Sheen had earlier indicated he would take legal action against the show’s producers. “I’m here to collect,” he told ABC in February. “They’re going to lose in a courtroom. So I would recommend that they do an out-of-court settlement, and fix this whole thing, and pay the crew and get Season 9 back on board.”
