Should I Have Called Charlie Sheen A Jerk?

I have little direct experience dealing with someone with a substance abuse problem as Charlie Sheen seems to have. Was I too judgmental?

Last night when I wrote about Charlie Sheen’s Detroit flameout I described him as a jerk. Many of you agreed. Many did not. The dissenters said Sheen is ill. I think Tricia’s and Wanda’s comments sum it up nicely:

Although Charlie Sheen has been the fodder of many news media, late night talk shows and blogs we need to focus on his mental state and not make light of or criticize his recent actions without knowing the facts.

Charlie Sheen needs some therapeutic assistance ASAP. This guy is not all there

I’ve read the comments and really thought about this a lot. I have little direct experience dealing with someone with a substance abuse problem as Charlie Sheen seems to have. Was I too judgmental?

It will be good if Sheen gets the help he obviously needs. No one, certainly not me, wants to see someone who is ill go untreated.

On the other hand his behavior affects others. People are out of work. Business relationships have dissolved. I can only speculate the toll this is taking on his family.

School me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Charlie gets a pass. Addiction or not he’s acting like a jerk.

25 thoughts on “Should I Have Called Charlie Sheen A Jerk?”

  1. I agree Geoff,Charlie does not get a pass.He is not only destroying his life, but the lives of those he works and lives with. Someone needs to get him some serious psychiatric therapy before it is too late.

  2. Jerk….I think that is putting it mildly. He’s an addict with money; the worst kind because they not only hurt themselves and the ones they love in private, but they can do it with fireworks, news crews and rag magazines.

    No de doesn’t get a pass. He is making choices, bad choices, but choices none the same. He knows what his options are and choices to continue on the path of destruction.

    As long as people keep paying attention to him, he will continue to do what he does until he kills himself or someone else. Let’s just hope no one else has to pay for his addiction, lord knows his children don’t have that option.

  3. I think Charlie is seriously sick and needs help but more importantly, I worry about his kids. He has five children who have to deal with the fallout of his illness. The real jerks in this situation are the promoters who are looking to make a buck off a man who is down and out. Stop giving him the spotlight and get him help!

  4. I think where you’re right is the fact that he’s most likely been advised by family, friends and professionals that he is in need of medical assistance. Whether that be therapy for drug abuse, or a diagnosis of another type, i.e, mental illness, would be up to a medical professional. Where he is being a jerk is in his denial that he has a problem of any kind and his avoidance of getting the help that he needs.

    I’m no professional. I have no idea whether he has a mental illness of any kind. However, having read material on drug abuse, I think it is safe to say that because of the types of drugs he has chosen to abuse and, more importantly, the quantity of these drugs, it’s likely that he has suffered some kind of brain malfunction or incapacity. I remember the television ad some years ago about the egg. Here’s an egg, here’s an egg on drugs or some such thing. That would be Charlie Sheen.

    So, yes, he is acting like a jerk. He needs help, he needs to admit he needs help and then he needs to go get it. And he needs to stop making a spectacle of himself. All this behavior is getting tiresome and is taking up news time which could be spent on some other topics.

    JERK.

  5. Eeh.

    He’s coherent enough to put together a *nationwide tour* and do a surprisingly hilarious (and well-made) cooking show spoof clip for ‘Funny or Die’, then I have a hard time believing he’s not just doing this for his own personal entertainment (or _something_).

    In fact, I was actually hoping that his live show would be similar to the cooking show material. That was some funny, over the top stuff that made me go “ahh, THIS is the character he’s going for — it’s all an act”.

    Maybe it still IS and he’s just fumbling the execution — his unpleasant comments to hecklers last night were just him being frustrated at it not going as planned.

    It’s really hard to tell. And THAT is kind of what kept me paying attention to him in the first place… wondering if he’s for real, or what — the element of the unknown was strong, but I think it’s starting to peter out.

    It’s saying something that at this point, I’m still not 100% sure what his deal really is. 😛

  6. I agree with you!

    I also think that the ticket buyers, his mangers and publicists are enablers! Fine, if he has a substance abuse problem, then its time for an intervention, not a national tour! People that are buying his tickets are encouraging him. Venues that are booking him, are also. Managers that are pushing him to do more are greedy.

    Don’t feel bad for calling him a jerk!

  7. Geoff, I have lived with substance abuse. Mr. Sheen is ill, for sure, and needs help whether or not he thinks he does. We, the people of this country have given him free reign, some fascinated with his downward spiral, some egging him on by allowing him to have the opportunity to take our money and ‘put on a show’. I worry about all of us, giving this ill person unlimited access. He is a jerk, but those who bought tickets, in Detroit and here in Connecticut, are just helping him along. I would hope he loses his Twits and while being ignored, see the error of his ego and get some help, but I don’t think so. He is a sad spectacle.

  8. Geoff – having a substance abuse problem and being a jerk are NOT mutually exclusive. To even have set up this $200-a-ticket national tour if you’re so ill is a bad call. I’m not a cynical person, but I can’t help thinking this behavior was mostly fuel for publicity. He needs to focus on getting better, then we’ll talk about my having any respect for him whatsoever.

  9. Addiction is a disease. While he might be a sick man, it does not give him a free pass to behave like an idiot. People need to be responsible for their actions.

  10. What does it take for americans to see a publicity stunt? If he can’t be on his television show making money, what’s the next thing? Riding the waves of his “quote-unquote” lunacy. Wanna know what his problem is? He’s a spoiled, greedy brat who needs attention (read:money) any way he can get it.

    Best part about this is that being fired from his show raised so much attention, he will probably make more money on royalties than he would have had he not been fired.

  11. Geoff, I think you’re on the money. Substance abuse does not give you the personality of a jerk. Talented, yes. Addict, yes. Jerk, YES again! Still and all, his addictions affect more than just himself, and it would be great if he’d accept help. But even clean and sober he’ll probably still be a jerk.

  12. You can’t force someone to get help for an addiction. He may be unwittingly self medicating himself for a psychiatric problem. Again, short of involuntary commitment, you can’t force him to get help.

    He is hurting himself and that makes him sick. He has got to know others are being hurt by his actions. That makes him a jerk.

  13. The thing about mental illness is that those who are truly ill cannot see their own behavior as anything but normal. It is the people who, like those who go to see fires burn or car accidents, and enjoy watching those things, who are enabling (for lack of a better word) those that put on the displays such as Sheen’s. The fact that he is getting so much attention for his “antics” is the very impetus for his behavior. Right, wrong, or indifferent, feeding his narcissistic crash and burn, even PAYING to see it, only makes matters worse. I’m sick to death of hearing about Sheen. Ignore him and eventually he will go away–either at his own hand, or as a child who throws tantrums eventually learns, that “acting out” does not get the attention he craves.

    Yeah, he is a jerk, Geoff, and you have every right to think so.

  14. Charlie Sheen has a long history of beating up on women and getting away with it. I question why you used such soft language and only called him a jerk. If you look at his history, harsher words would describe him better.

  15. Charlie Sheen IS NOT JERK, he is a Self-Absorbed, Egotistical ….DRUG & ALCOHOL ADDICT. AND he likes it that way. He has no intention of going to rehab because HE IS PERFECTLY IN CONTROL! He loves to PARTY and he loves to play with his LADIES. He has all the money he needs to continue with this lifestyle so why whould he want to change. Everyone else in the world are the sick ones…not him! He will never change until he accepts his addiction and is really ready to change. AND as long as we continue to give him our attention AND our CASH for tickets to see him & listen to all his ramblings………….he will never look for the help that he needs. Sometimes a person has to be a rock bottom before he sees that there is a problem. I hope he wakes up! Until then, I am not wasting my time listening to him rant. I am looking elsewhere for my entertainment.

  16. Yes, he is a jerk. . and then some. Addict, abuser, spoiled brat. Unfortunately, the American public can share at least a bit of the blame for helping create these monsters. Take one idiotic addictive personality, add wealth, fame, good looks, some personality. . and you’ve got Charlie Sheen, and a whole mess of others just like him. Our propensity to enjoy the public demise of these losers and eat it off the media spoon assures there will be many more Charlie Sheens lining up for our attention. I only hope he does not meet the end that seems to be obvious, and pray that he takes noone with him. It breaks my heart that he is a son, a father, a brother and a friend to others. It must be horrific for them to watch. Geoff, you called a spade a spade, and quite gently I may add.

  17. He may have a serious addiction. He may be bipolar or have some other mental illness. He is STILL acting like a jerk.

  18. I wonder why he is not being prosecuted for drug possession, even intent to sell or distribute, due to the amounts he has admitted to having. If he were just a “regular” person, he would probably be serving time.

  19. Geoff, you are absolutely right, he should not get a pass. People should be wisking him off to some isolated place to get him some treatment, he is very talented, and I used to watch him until this stunt. I feel so bad for his family, and you have been nailing it on the head in the past two blogs.

  20. Once again, Geoff, you are right!

    Once one’s behavior begins to negatively effect other people, no one should get a pass, be it for reasons of addiction OR mental illness.

    Unfortunately, when an addict is wealthy, she/he is usally surrounded by a group of little yes-people who confirm many times a day that things are “just fine” instead of telling Sheen that he is manic or high. The same thing happened to Michael Jackson–I mean, look at his nose!! Someone did that to him, certainly not thinking it looked good. But I’ll bet none of his hangers-on ever told him he was out of control.

    What goes up, must come down: the time to reason with Sheen is not while he is grandiose and egomaniacal; it is when he crashes and will listen to reason because he will feel horrible. Then he might take some advice from his father or a psychiatrist.

    While he remains high as a kite—whether from natural causes or drug-induced—he will be feeling so great that we sane and sober people will have to just ignore his antics and hope that he gets another chance to save his own life. Not everyone does.

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