LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Actor Charlie Sheen, who has been accused of anti-Semitism, claims that he is Jewish and proud of it.
During a morning phone call March 4 to the Access Hollywood Live show, Sheen told hosts Billy Bush and Kit Hoover, “My mom [actress Janet Templeton] is Jewish. Here’s where it gets confusing — we don’t know who her father was.
“But she is, in fact, Jewish. So I guess that would make me Jewish and my children Jewish. And Brooke [Mueller], my ex-wife, is Jewish. So I guess I should have rolled that out, too.”
A perplexed Bush told Sheen, “You’re getting accused of anti-Semitic remarks — you might want to say, ‘By the way, I’m Jewish!’ ”
Sheen responded, “I know, I know — stupid me. I just got caught sleeping, caught napping, which is rare for me. Anywho … But I’m proud of it. There you have it."
Sheen, 45, star of the hit TV comedy “Two and a Half Men," which has been suspended for the rest of this season and may be canceled, lashed out last month at the Anti-Defamation League following its charge that Sheen had exhibited “borderline anti-Semitism” in referring to his producer, Chuck Lorre, by his Hebrew name, Chaim Levine. Sheen has demanded an apology from the ADL.
Sheen, whose birth name is Carlos Irwin Estevez, has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
During the call-in, Sheen also announced that he and actor Sean Penn would travel to Haiti in support of Penn’s relief effort for the earthquake-stricken country.
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