Was "Two and a Half Men" teen star Angus T. Jones so turned off by the recent storyline that had his character Jake Harper making out with Miley Cyrus that he's now biting the hand that feeds him by trashing the series he's starred on for the last decade?
No, it goes much deeper than that. Not only has the 19-year-old called his series "filth" in a new interview, but he also begs viewers to stop watching "Two and a Half Men" and talks about how being on the show goes against his religious beliefs.
"Jake from 'Two and a Half Men' means nothing," Jones says in a video interview with Chris "The Forerunner" Hudson, who leads a Seventh day Adventist-leaning video series. "If you watch 'Two and a Half Men,' please stop watching 'Two and a Half Men.' I don't want to be on it. Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth. Please."
Jones also talks in the video about how TV, and apparently "Two and a Half Men" specifically, does the work of the devil.
"A lot of people don't like to think about how deceptive the enemy is," Jones says. "He's been doing this for a lot longer than any of us have been around. There's no playing around when it comes to eternity."
So why, you wonder, is Jones still appearing on a show he so clearly detests and is publicly trashing?
"It's very weird being on a television show, especially now that I'm trying to walk with God, because my television show has nothing to do with God and doesn't want anything to do with God," Jones said during a Seventh-day Adventist Church workshop on his birthday in October (as reported at Vulture.com). He said that he had considered not continuing his role, but "it's a strange position that I'm put in … I'm under contract for another year, so it's not too much of a decision on my part. … I know God has me there for a reason for another year."
In the workshop testimony, Jones also talks about his parents' divorce, his drug use, and the fact that he's still a virgin.
CBS declined to comment on Jones's interview. A representative for Jones, who is reportedly paid between $300,000 and $350,000 per episode for "Two and a Half Men," has not responded to Yahoo! TV's request for comment.
Jones, along with co-stars Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer, signed a one-year deal to continue the 10th, and current, season of "Two and a Half Men," in which his character has graduated from high school and joined the Army. The sitcom remains a top 10 ratings hit for CBS.
On Twitter, reaction to Jones's video vacillated between comments on Jones's actions and his religious beliefs and, of course, blaming Charlie Sheen, the man who played Jones's on-screen uncle for eight -- well, seven and a half -- seasons before a public meltdown (which included publicly making disparaging comments about the series) ended with his getting axed from the sitcom.
"The Shield" and "Last Resort" creator Shawn Ryan tweeted:
Film School Rejects associate editor Rob Hunter wrote:
Meanwhile, CommentaryMagazine.com editor John Podhoretz added:
Sheen himself has yet to respond to the brouhaha via Twitter.
Watch a clip from "Two and a Half Men":
