Two and a Half Men bosses could sue Charlie Sheen for temporarily departing the sitcom to enter rehab.
CBS and Warner Bros Television could well be within in their rights to exercise a clause in his contract to sue the actor for any losses incurred.
Earlier this week Sheen announced that he would be taking an ‘immediate leave of absence’ from Two and a Half Men – the most-watched comedy on US telly – to enter rehab. This is presumably an effort to curry favour with the judge presiding over Sheen’s assault case.
The Hollywood Reporter muses that an actor such as Sheen probably has a 'morals clause' in his contract.
no we didn't know what that meant either so we looked it up and it means that employers can “alter or terminate an employee's deal for bad behaviour that harms the production” and “an unruly star can be responsible for losses incurred because of his unruliness”. So now you know.
Sheen is no stranger to behaving badly. In 1990 he checked himself into rehab and in 1998 was hospitalized after “consuming excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol”.
Greenberg Glusker’s Aaron Moss said: “If the conduct is considered a material breach of his deal, then the network may be able to file a lawsuit for breach of contract”.
Mary Craig Calkins, an insurance-recovery specialist at Howrey in Los Angeles said: “The insurance company reps read the papers just like everyone else,
“I would expect some aspect of this risk would have been written into coverage and the production agreement as well.”
In other words due to his history, Sheen may not be covered for repeated stints in rehab therefore leaving CBS and Warner uninsured against any losses.
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