Insulting Chuck Lorre, Not Abuse, Gets Charlie Sheen Sidelined (New York Times)

In 2007, Chris Albrecht, then chairman of HBO, which is owned by Time Warner — yes, that Time Warner — was asked to resign after he was arrested and charged with assaulting a woman in a Las Vegas parking lot. Even though Mr. Albrecht had played a large role in developing the paid cable network and hits like “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos,” his behavior, coupled with past incidents of domestic abuse, was deemed unacceptable.

Is Mr. Sheen excused because he manufactures laughs, not widgets, for a living? For years on the show, Mr. Sheen has been playing to type as a naughty boy in a man’s body: the result was often scabrous and funny and a hit in the ratings. It also fits another depressing pattern. From “Animal House” to Howard Stern, from “Pretty Woman” to “The Hangover,” Hollywood has long had a soft spot for male misbehavior and, in claiming to parody childish misogyny, it seems to provide an excuse to indulge in it further.

Hollywood likes to pretend it has grown up and taken its seat in corporate America. But it hasn’t when it comes to violence toward women. Mr. Sheen may have gone off-script last week. But in his attitudes toward women both on and off screen, he’s right on message.

David Carr makes interesting points about many things - the fact that Sheen has literally threatened to kill at least two of the women in his life, that actors get away with so much more than mere executives and that has everything to do with the bottom line, and that it seems like that only ends when they "attack the golden goose" and rail (often with anti-Semitic rants) against their bosses or the power structure in Hollywood. Bottom line, what's up with that?
Read the full article here.