Charlie Sheen: 'I'm Tired of Pretending Ashton Doesn't Suck'

Actor Charlie Sheen, who was replaced by Ashton Kutcher in "Two and a Half Men" after being fired, told TMZ in a live phone interview on Thursday that he feels the sitcom has gone downhill since his exit.

Sheen was television's highest-paid actor of 2011, until many well-publicized incidents involving drugs, alcohol and numerous disagreements with its producer got him booted off the show. Although seemingly at peace with the transition before, Sheen blasted the show Thursday.

"I'm tired of lying. I'm tired of pretending the show doesn't suck. I'm tired of pretending Ashton doesn't suck," he explained. "It's nothing personal. I just feel bad for him. He's saddled with such bad writing."

A month prior to his recent outburst, Sheen, while out trying to sell his new show "Anger Management," was busy ripping the show's producer.

"I don't think that [Kutcher's] working with the best writing because [producer] Chuck [Lorre] is doing too many shows," he told The New York Post in January. "He and Jon [Cryer] and Angus [T. Jones] deserve better material. They deserve what I had for the first five years. I don't want to harp on them. Let the clueless stay clueless."

The actor stated he does have some compassion for Kutcher however.

"I've done what he's done," he said. "I've replaced a guy (Michael J. Fox on "Spin City"). It's so f------hard, you can't believe it," he said. "It's all you're thinking about, and you're surrounded by these ghosts. So, hats off to [Kutcher] for doing the best job that he can."

In their dismissal letter of sheen, Warner Bros said not only did the star admit to using cocaine, he made derogatory public comments about the show, and was "engaged in dangerously self-destructive behavior and appears to be very ill."

The multimillion-dollar company said they should not, and could not, attempt to continue "business as usual while Mr. Sheen destroys himself as the world watches."