Charlie Sheen sitcom axed after rant at producer

Charlie Sheen's hit US sitcom Two and a Half Men has been cancelled after the troubled star unleashed an expletive-filled attack on the show's producer.

The decision was based on the "totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition", CBS and Warner Bros Television said in a joint statement.

Production had been suspended in January to allow Sheen to seek rehabilitation and had been due to resume next week.

That was before the 45-year-old actor's rambling, often vitriolic radio interview with host Alex Jones in which Sheen blasted Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre and other targets including Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sheen called Lorre, a "charlatan [who] chose not to do his job," a "piece of s**t" and a "stupid, stupid little man".

The abrupt decision to pull the plug on additional episodes of the lucrative sitcom came after Sheen's increasingly erratic behaviour, including an earlier interview in which he claimed he had sought to return to work but was barred by producers.

In his interview with Jones, Sheen repeatedly evoked violent images and ideas. He also derided Lorre in an attack that reeked of anti-semitism.

"There's something this side of deplorable that a certain Chaim Levine - yeah, that's Chuck's real name - mistook this rock star for his own selfish exit strategy, bro. Check it, Alex: I embarrassed him in front of his children and the world by healing at a pace that his unevolved mind cannot process," Sheen said.

Lorre, who was born Charles Levine, is a veteran producer whose hits include The Big Bang Theory, Dharma & Greg and Cybill.

Speaking of himself, Sheen said he has "magic and poetry in my fingertips, most of the time".

Lorre had no comment on Sheen's remarks, a spokeswoman said.

Sheen, however, did not go silent after the CBS and Warner announcement.

In what TMZ dubbed an "open letter" from Sheen that the website posted, the actor further insulted Lorre.

Sheen, improbably, also called on his fans to start a protest movement for him.

"I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans who embraced this show for almost a decade to walk with me side-by-side as we march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong," he wrote.

Warner had already planned to cut this season's 24 planned episodes to 20 because of the hiatus.

Now, CBS is left with a total of 16 episodes of its cornerstone Monday comedy, all of which have aired.

The network and studio had tolerated Sheen's recent misadventures.

He went into rehab in January, reportedly at home, after three hospital stays in three months. The most recent was a brief hospital stay that followed a 911 call in which he was described as very intoxicated.

In the interview with Jones, Sheen had harsh words for Alcoholics Anonymous. He referred to it as a "bootleg cult" with a 5% success rate, compared to his own "100 %" success rate.

One of the group's mottos, he said, is, "'Don't be special. Be one of us.' News flash: I am special and I will never be one of you."

When Jones told Sheen he sounded like Thomas Jefferson, Sheen dismissed the US founding father with a rude insult.

"It may be lonely up here but I sure like the view, Alex," he said.

Sheen referred to himself as a new sheriff in town who has an "army of assassins.

"If you love with violence and you hate with violence, there's nothing that can be questioned," said Sheen, who played a soldier in the war film Platoon.