Actor Sheen says he is Jewish
March 6, 2011
LOS ANGELES (JTA) --Actor Charlie Sheen, who has been accused of anti-Semitism, claims that he is a Jew and proud of it.
During a morning phone call to the Access Hollywood Live show March 4, 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. Anyho…..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 cancelled, is accustomed to controversy.
Last month, he lashed out at the Anti-Defamation League, which charged that Sheen exhibited "borderline anti-Semitism" in referring to his producer, Chuck Lorre, by his Hebrew name Chaim Levine.
Sheen, whose birth name is Carlos Irwin Estevez, has a long history of drug and alcohol abuse
During Friday's 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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