Angus T. Jones has a curious way of demonstrating his deep Christian faith. Jones is shown in a new video denouncing the show “Two and a Half Men” as “filth” and a danger to Christian children and values. The problem is that Jones plays Jake Harper on the show and receives a reported $350,000 an episode. You may recall that Charlie Sheen was kicked off the show for making disparaging comments about the show and “dangerously self-destructive conduct.” While Sheen was not fired under a “morality clause,” such provisions are common in television contracts. Could denouncing the show as immoral violate the Morality Clause?
Jones’ comments came in a video for the Forerunner Christian Church. The 19-year-old actor told the faithful “I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men’ and I don’t want to be on it. If you watch ‘Two and a Half Men,’ please stop watching it and filling your head with filth. People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.”
He then appears to struggle with the fact that he is producing the very “filth” that he is condemning: “If I am doing any harm, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be contributing to the enemy’s plan … You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can’t. I’m not OK with what I’m learning, what the Bible says and being on that television show.”
His learning curve appears to include continuing to rack up almost $400,000 an episode for this “filth.”
Jones reportedly also warned against the onslaught on faith as an attendee of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Los Angeles:
“I have always gone to a Christian school since I was in kindergarten, but my faith was basically non-existent… School started to take a back seat more and more through high school. Two or three years ago my parents started have marital issues and started to go through the process of getting a divorce. At the time I also started dating this girl and when I look back now I see that as a time when the enemy was trying to push me in that direction, but God knew he was going to pull me out at the last second.” He did proclaim however that he was able to remain a virgin because “right then this cleansing phenomenon and presence came into me… I felt like I had just accepted God.” That again led him to denounce his own show: “My television show has nothing to do with God and doesn’t want anything to do with God, so it is a strange position I am put in.” It is probably doubtful that Chuck Lorre would go for “Two and a Half Men and God” in the coming season.
Jones insists that he is required to continue to make unGodly filth: “I am under contract for another year so it is not too much of a decision on my part. I know God has me there for a reason for another year.” The reason appears to be a filth peddler.
It will be interesting to see how Lorre approaches these comments after the Sheen controversy. I have never seen the show and do not watch prime time television. I am perfectly willing to believe that it is a sleaze fest. Jones was attending religious schools (according to some interviews) when he signed the contract. It is not clear if he thought the show was a PBS production, but it clearly did not bother him at that time.
However, assuming that Jones found God after signing the contract, I would be interested if his lawyers have made an overture to the producers to seek an early departure from the contract. It would seem unimaginable for Jones to continue to accept the money for producing filth that destroys the souls of unwitting children. It would be reminiscent of the famous Churchillian story about “price.” According to legend, Winston Churchill once asked a socialite if she would sleep with him for 1 million pounds. When she admitted that she would, he offered one pound. “Winston! What sort of woman do you think I am?,” the woman objected. He responded, “We have already established what you are, now we are just haggling over price.”
The most interesting question is whether Lorre could fire Jones under a morality clause and other provision. The comments of Jones not only actively discourage viewers but could discourage advertisers in supporting what one of the actors calls unadulterated filth.
If he has the same contract as Sheen, the studio asserted a general basis for termination based on failure to perform his required duties and a provision that allows termination for an act “which constitutes a felony offense involving moral turpitude under federal, state, or local laws, or in indicted or convicted of any such offense.” That would not fit an act denouncing moral turpitude, presumably. Moreover, actors should be allowed to have and espouse faith. What makes this more interesting is that the espousal of faith was the act of denouncing the show as evil.
The specific grounds might not matter. Presumably, Jones would not contest a termination since he has said that he is miserable in his current role. If so, who would challenge? Of course, if they fired him for moral turpitude, it could lead to an interesting lawsuit where an actor who denounced the show as immoral would fight to continue to make the immoral show rather than be declared immoral.
This is why I watch football. It is easier to follow.
Source: Fox
@Malisha, Idealist: If you don’t care, why take the time to tell us you don’t care?
We feel like discussing it, because this particular hypocrisy has a peculiar combination of elements (including a large amount of money and sexualised story lines) that reveals something to us about the world we live in and how it works, and the psychology of the wealthy that do not even KNOW they are lucky.
If you don’t see that, or grasp that, don’t come into the room just to tell us we are wasting our time and you have more important things to think about.
I liked THIS story. I wanted to talk about THIS story. The answer to your question of “who cares” is, I care. I thought that was obvious from the fact that I was still writing about it.
@Patric: But all & all, I submit that the tone of the show – as indeed the tone of countless others since – by cleverly couching immorality in ribald humor – does enormous social damage. It does so by contributing to the coarsening of children, at a time when their moral compasses are often trying very hard to find true North.
I will take the opposite stance. I submit that the tone of this show, and others, does social good. Humor is a good in itself, but there is a psychological good here too. If children are old enough to find ribald humor funny, then shows like this do not coarsen them, they broaden their perspectives. What are the elements of humor these shows rely upon? Miscommunication, misunderstanding, mistakes in judgment, doing something dumb and suffering the consequences.
Comedy shows contribute to the education of children, because in order to get a real laugh the show must capture some element of real human nature; there must be some verisimilitude there, that the unexpected reaction or outcome is not unexpected-crazy, it is unexpected but makes sense when the full reality is understood (which is why many punchlines also reveal the reality).
What you call “coarsening” I call refinement of their understanding of people and relationships, including sexual relationships. Children are growing to be adults, and the more truth they have on their side, the better their moral compass will be tuned.
The more they learn about what can go wrong in relationships, the better their relationships will be; the more they learn by sitcoms how people get their feelings hurt, make mistakes, give in to temptation they regret, the less likely they are to commit the same errors themselves.
Sitcoms are caricatures of reality; but like a good caricature they capture something recognizable as reality. That is how we teach young people, with caricatures. We do not teach quantum physics to middle schoolers, we teach them about levers and gearing and friction. Everything we teach them is not exactly true, we don’t teach them about levers bending or fracturing. Our springs don’t ever break, our materials do not corrode each other, our gears do not heat up or wear down.
The philosophy that keeping children ignorant of realities they must soon face on their own is going to help them is just wrong; the belief that children are so impressionable they will adopt any belief system on sight (and then never relinquish it) is illogical. Humans do not work that way.
The way humans DO work, the more information they have to sort through and develop an understanding of their own, the better off they are. The children most thoroughly shielded from reality are the ones put at the greatest risk when they are, inevitably, exposed to it.
Ach, ach. I second Malisha’s question. Who cares? And Why? The higher the temptation the lower the theshold.
How many hypocrites that we have on the bench is more important. And do we use fMRI techniques to weed them out?
Thanks Gene.
I suspect, as I said, his agent (usually a lawyer) was scrambling; I suspect Lorre called the agent and told him, “If he doesn’t want to be here, we would be happy to call it quits as of now, none of us want an actor on set that doesn’t want to be here, it poisons the whole production. In fact we’ll go ahead and start preparing some paperwork for his signature; why don’t you bring him in tomorrow?”
I speculate he had a good lawyer / PR firm to write his statement to counter what the show’s producers likely told him what would happen if he continued what he had proclaimed just before.
I guess it would also be reasonable to expect a young man of his age not do say/do everything perfectly. So while I think what he did was hypocritical and foolish, it is what it is. Time to move on. Hope he learned a lesson for his own future benefit.
Angus T. Jones can do whatever he wants, and I wouldn’t pretend to guess what his motivations might really be. If he has indeed awakened to believe the show is too crude for him, more power to him. With rerun residuals, he’ll likely never have to work again, ever.
I’d love to see him direct the millions he stands to make, to a seriously deserving charity.
Now, I’ve laughed out loud at some of the show’s comedy over the years, and there were times when – as a young kid – “Jake” was too cute & hilarious for words. In fact, the entire cast was excellent, and the writing often exceptional. The stalker “Rose” should have won an Emmy.
But all & all, I submit that the tone of the show – as indeed the tone of countless others since – by cleverly couching immorality in ribald humor – does enormous social damage. It does so by contributing to the coarsening of children, at a time when their moral compasses are often trying very hard to find true North.
Hey, it looks like Angus figured out who he was dancing with . . .
Angus T. Jones Apologizes For ‘Two And A Half Men’ Remarks
His statement reads:
“I have been the subject of much discussion, speculation and commentary 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 Half Men with whom I have worked over the past ten years and who have become an extension of my family.
Chuck Lorre, 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.
I also want all of the crew and cast on our show to know how much I personally care for them and appreciate their support, guidance and love over the years. I grew up around them and know that the time they spent with me was in many instances more than with their own families. I learned life lessons from so many of them and will never forget how much positive impact they have had on my life.
I apologize 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. I never intended that.”
pst . . . Malisha . . . it’s about hypocrisy (the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case) and pudding (see, proof in eating of).
Mmmmm.
Pudding.
Who cares? How foolish! He can break his contract if he wants to. If he doesn’t want to he doesn’t have to. He can worship whom and how he wants to. Damn, what’s all this about?
Hal….. You’re good….
I don’t believe 3.5 ♂ is any more sexist against women than Charlie being a horndog says that all men are oversexed dogs.
I don’t know if that is a logical phallus-cy or not.
It just came off as trying to hard and fell quite flat….
Correction from my second to last post…..
That was supposed to say… Trying TOO hard….
and the crazy just keeps a com’in…..
Angus’s Spiritual advisor…. Seventh-day Adventist pastor Christopher Hudson, aka The Forerunner.
TMZ has dug up some interesting nuggets from Hudson’s ForeRunner Chronicles video series, including:
— Why he believes Jay-Z is a Freemason with ties to the devil
— How he alleges Obama’s pro-gay agenda has similarities to Hitler
— How he claims NYC’s gas crisis can lead to cannibalism
Hudson had bizarrely warned his followers that the gas crisis could turn into a food crisis, forcing women to eat their own children: “Your baby might start looking like a chicken wing.”
It is unclear if Angus believes everything the pastor is saying, but in the now-viral “testimony” video, the young man only had praise for his spiritual guide. “I love watching ForeRunner Chronicles,” Angus said. “All the information is so great…Your videos have no doubt been a blessing to me.”
TMZ has spoken to Hudson, and he said that he and Angus have become close over the past year and share similar beliefs.
Meanwhile, the young actor’s mother has spoken out, saying that she’s “concerned” for her son.
Carey, 42, told Mail Online in a brief statement that she’s “concerned he’s being exploited by the church.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/angus_jones_the_controversial_pastor_7CWHG4QRjBWm4hev40lbAJ
How quiet it became when the “slut” slur was said. A quick hop to “promiscuous” by one of the guys, and even that can and should have been debated vigorously.
But not having standing, other than being one who was a useful consumer goods, so I kept quiet.
Myself, I say: whatever the woman’s body, mind and her relationships will bear is OK. It is natural. And they are not chattel. Some guys will never understand that.
Justagurl my goodness you sure are fighting for this sitcom
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@LeeJCaroll…..
NO… just tired of Christian hypocrisy… and puritanical BS….
Comedy of a sexual nature is NOT what is wrong with the USA….
and as Tony pointed out.. it is NOT about sexual exploits…..
Tony put it PERFECTLY in that… It is about how unfair life is….
That Charlie can go through women like crazy, and luck is always on his side….
and how Allen works hard, tries to do the right thing… and he has the WORST LUCK…..
It may not be the most intelligent comedy… But, I liked it for a while…
I tend to like risqué humour…. Back when Charlie Sheen was on the show, I thought it was a far better show…. I’ve only seen a few of the episodes with Ashton Kutcher… I just felt they were trying to hard with making Allen far more pathetic…. like when he was going to get a position on the board at Walden’s company… and Allen went to the board room and was stealing food and could not just vote, like he was hired to do….
It just came off as trying to hard and fell quite flat….
With Charlie Sheen it was a good fit….. I was VERY sorry to see him go….
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somebody mentioned that his mother thinks he is being manipulated…..
This sounds VERY possible…..
That almost makes me MORE upset at this whole story….
I’m so sick of religion exploiting people of all ages….
What Frankly said…
According to more recent comments, he says his role has been reduced to a few minutes of Skype calls; for $350,000 per episode and 20 episodes per year. He says it is easy but he is bored. Poor baby.
Other anonymous sources say Lorre (the producer) will offer him a graceful way out. I wouldn’t be surprised, why not pocket the seven million instead?
I bet Angus’ agent is one scrambling mofo right now, with about a million dollar fee (15%) headed for the incinerator…
Nal,
lol … that was really good.
If as he says the show is evil, his knowing participation was and is a sin. Interesting that his morals don’t run to refusing the pay check, stopping the evil work and returning the filthy money. Growing a young crop of hypocrites this year, are we not.