Charlie Sheen denies anti-semitism in TV row

He also insisted he is sober and plans to turn up for work next week for the top-rated TV series, in which he stars. Four shows remain to be filmed this season.

CBS and Warner Brothers announced the cancellation on Thursday after Sheen, who was briefly hospitalized last month following his latest reported booze and drugs-fueled partying mishap, denounced the show\'s co-creator Chuck Lorre.

In a series of statements to radio and the TMZ celebrity website in the last few days, Sheen railed against Lorre, referring to him as Chaim Levine, the Hebrew translation of the TV producer\'s name.

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League lobby group, condemned Sheen\'s comments.

"By invoking television producer Chuck Lorre\'s Jewish name in the context of an angry tirade against him, Charlie Sheen left the impression that another reason for his dislike of Mr. Lorre is his Jewishness," he said in a statement.

"This fact has no relevance to Mr. Sheen\'s complaint or disagreement, and his words are at best bizarre, and at worst, borderline anti-Semitism," he added in a statement.

Speaking from the Bahamas, where he is reportedly vacationing with a new girlfriend, Sheen denied Friday being anti-Semitic.

"I was referring to Chuck by his real name, because I wanted to address the man, not the bullshit TV persona," he told TMZ, which said Lorre\'s birth name is Charles Levine.

Sheen, whose birth name is Carlos Estevez, added: "So you\'re telling me, anytime someone calls me Carlos Estevez, I can claim they are anti-Latino?"

Separately, the ABC television network cited text messages from Sheen insisting he plans to turn up for work next week for filming on "Two and a Half Men," in which he plays a hedonistic bachelor.

The star filed for divorce from his wife of two years in November, days after being taken to hospital following a reported drunken incident at a luxury New York hotel involving another porn star.

In addition to his reported substance abuse, Sheen had several run-ins with the law in the 1990s in cases related to drugs, domestic violence and prostitution.

© Copyright AFP Agence France-Presse GmbH - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.