Few personal breakdowns have been so sad, so bizarre and so public as Charlie Sheen’s strange crash that has all but dominated the media these past few weeks. His racially charged railings against Two and a Half Men producer, his knee-jerk media blitz and his drug-fueled partying antics have left recent news with an objectionable sheen of their own. Though Sheen is currently TV’s highest-paid and most talked-about star, his recent behavior suggests he may also be its most short-lived.
This past week, in his ill-advised media tour, Sheen called in to local radio station Wired 96.5 to continue to shellac the media with his wacky rants. Sheen called into the show this Thursday after a plane trailing the show’s number flew in circles over his home. His interview lasted only about ten minutes, but left plenty of time to belittle his coworkers, idolize himself and his “goddesses” and add a whole slew of new words to the public vernacular.
Though, obviously, radio DJs are radio DJs and not addiction counselors, the kind of enabling Chio and his cohorts showered upon the clearly in-need-of-help Charlie would have made Dr. Drew cry. Opening with a firm confirmation that he was on “Team Charlie,” Chio continued to encourage Sheen’s belief of his rockstar, superpowered persona. Sheen demonstrated remarkable paranoia, against his CBS colleagues and even phone companies, as well as an unhealthy sense of entitlement and self-worth. Sheen confidently announced that the “hot springs in middle earth are ready to explode outward,” telling his estranged boss to “hello, duh,” embrace him and his demands. He is sure, not hopeful, of his job security, because “hope is for suckers.” Sheen also retracted an earlier claim that he doesn’t sleep for the revised statement that he sleeps only when there’s nothing to be observed per request “of a higher calling.”
Sheen also proved himself a Philly fan, saying something cosmically directed him “to this energy that is Philadelphia – winners, completely.”
How much of Sheen’s recent blathering is a (successful) publicity stunt and how much is warning signs of a very serious problem is unclear. But someone who publically announces that the media “boils [his] tiger blood like a microwave on meth” for his alternative lifestyle while simultaneously spreading his craziness across the airwaves is bound to stir some controversy. The pop cultural supernova’s response? Bring it.