AN ACTOR from the hit TV comedy ‘Two and a Half Men’ – who called the series “filth” – has apologised, scrambling to keep his job on what its former star Charlie Sheen said was a “cursed” show.
Angus T. Jones – who plays Jake in the sitcom – voiced remorse a day after a video surfaced on a Christian church’s website, in which he urged viewers not to watch the top-rated comedy show.
“I apologise if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed,” he said in a statement.
“I never intended that,” he added.
He added: “I have been the subject of much discussion [...] over the past 24 hours. While I cannot address everything that has been said or right every misstatement or misunderstanding, there is one thing I want to make clear.
“Without qualification, I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on Two and a Half Men with whom I have worked and over the past ten years who have become an extension of my family.”
Nineteen-year-old Jones, who reportedly earns $350,000 an episode playing the character Jake in the show now starring Ashton Kutcher, attacked the programme after apparently undergoing a religious revelation.
“If you watch ‘Two and a Half Men,’ please stop watching ‘Two and a Half Men.’ I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men,’ and I don’t want to be on it,” he said in a video posted by the Forerunner Christian Church on YouTube.
(YouTube/TheForerunner777)
“Please stop watching it; stop filling your head with filth. Please,” he said in the video.
Jones signed up for a new one-year contract in May for the show — from which Sheen was sacked last year after he gave a series of increasingly erratic and explosive interviews about the show’s producer, Chuck Lorre.
Sheen said shortly before Jones’ apology that he thought the series was plagued.
“With Angus’s Hale-Bopp-like meltdown, it is radically clear to me that the show is cursed,” Sheen told celebrity bible People magazine, referring to the fiery comet.
Sheen – who portrayed hedonistic jingle writer Charlie Harper – was replaced by Kutcher on the top-rated comedy series, which has been a hit since it was launched in 2003.
In his apology Tuesday, Jones added fulsome praise for its producers.
“Chuck Lorre, [executive producer] Peter Roth and many others at Warner Bros. and CBS are responsible for what has been one of the most significant experiences in my life to date.
“I thank them for the opportunity they have given and continue to give me and the help and guidance I have and expect to continue to receive from them,” he said.
Warner Bros, which makes the show along with CBS, has remained tight-lipped about Jones’ outburst. A Warner Bros spokesman, Paul McGuire, declined to comment when asked by AFP for a reaction to Jones’ apology.
