Bi-winning: on Charlie Sheen and John Galliano

Two very high-profile men, in equally high-profile ways, have melted down. And by golly - it’s fascinating.

Charlie Sheen, the bad-boy of primetime, has been hitting the media circuit, giving crazy-eyed interviews about his rockstar lifestyle, his enduring specialness, and his hatred for his Two and a Half Men boss Chuck Lorre (or Chaim Levine, as Sheen pointed out – referring to Lorre via his birth name in what many people have since determined to be a case of casual anti-semitism). Meanwhile, John Galliano was recently fired from his position as head designer for Dior after rumors of an arrest and a drunken, hate-filled diatribe flooded the internet; soonafter, The Sun released a video of Galliano berating a pair of travelers at an outdoor café. “I love Hitler,” he seethed, “people like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be fucking gassed. You're ugly."

Both stories have dominated the press these past few weeks, particularly because Sheen seems determined to go down in a televised blaze of glory, and the media is more than happy to oblige him. Sheen’s behavior, while extreme, shouldn’t be totally surprising – he’s notorious for his drug and alcohol use, his addiction to prostitutes, and for abusing ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller. Galliano, meanwhile, has been an enfant terrible in his own way, though no one necessarily anticipated his affinity for the Third Reich. But I think it’s captivating when celebrities fall apart for a few reasons. As a culture, we want to hold celebrities to high moral standards, even though there’s no logical connection between fame and inner goodness (some might even argue that the former necessarily corrupts the latter). We want to believe that the people who enjoy riches, privilege and glory somehow deserve it – if they don’t, it corrodes our collective sense of justice.

Intellectually, we understand that celebrities aren’t always formidable people but then, when we’re faced with the reality of those flaws, we feel betrayed. I am not a drug addict/wife beater/lunatic/racist, but I’m also not a multi-millionaire with one of the most coveted jobs on the planet. How is that fair? PR reps can only do so much to save their clients from themselves. Galliano lost his job, because even though anti-semitism doesn’t really interfere with brilliant fashion design, it’s just not a good look for the brand. Sheen, however, is a different story. His off-screen awfulness is, somehow, part of his on-screen charm, and it’ll be interesting to see how this insanity affects his career in the long term.

Personally, I’ve never been a big Charlie Sheen fan, so if this whole thing proves to be a big ol’ career ender it won’t be much of a loss. As for Galliano – put him on the “I used to like you” island with Mel Gibson. Thanks to my last name, my ethnicity is front-and-center. I saw a Galliano t-shirt on sale at Daffy’s the other day, and walked right on by.