Angus T. Jones' disappearance from Hollywood sparked countless questions: What really went down on Two and a Half Men? What was the deal with all that church stuff? And could Jones be destined for hip-hop greatness?
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00:00Angus T. Jones' disappearance from Hollywood sparked countless questions.
00:04What really went down on Two and a Half Men?
00:07What was the deal with all that church stuff?
00:09And could Jones be destined for hip-hop greatness?
00:12Charlie Sheen's firing from Two and a Half Men sent shockwaves through Hollywood.
00:16I have one speed, I have one gear.
00:18Go!
00:19For a while, though, the cast and crew may have thought the worst was behind them as
00:22they charged on ahead with Ashton Kutcher, who stepped in to play the brand new lead
00:26Walden Schmidt.
00:27But trouble struck once more in November 2012, when Angus T. Jones provided a testimony
00:32to the religious group Forerunner Chronicles' YouTube channel.
00:35In the video, Jones railed against Two and a Half Men and admitted he didn't want to
00:39be on the show anymore, urging viewers to switch channels, too.
00:42I'm on Two and a Half Men, I don't want to be on it.
00:45Please stop watching it.
00:46Please stop filling your head with filth.
00:50Jones apologized for his controversial remarks a day after the video went live, even thanking
00:55the network and the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, for giving him the chance to appear
00:59on the show.
01:00Jones quietly disappeared from Two and a Half Men after this incident, with his character
01:04leaving the series at the end of season 10.
01:07In 2012, Jones turned 19 years old, and so he decided that he was ready to move on to
01:11the next phase of his life.
01:13He told People magazine in 2016,
01:15"'Going to college was something I was really, really excited about."
01:19The actor enrolled at the University of Colorado, where he majored in environmental studies.
01:24A year later, he changed his major to Jewish studies.
01:27Soon after that, Jones paused his studies to head back to Los Angeles.
01:31Jones suggested to People that he might yet return to college to finish his degree, but
01:35it doesn't seem as if that ever came to pass.
01:37Regardless, he spoke positively about his decision to enroll at a university in a place
01:41like Boulder, Colorado, as it had afforded him what he called a normal existence.
01:46He added,
01:47"'I wasn't the center of everyone's attention, and that was nice.'"
01:50The ending of Two and a Half Men tied up a number of loose ends from the series.
01:54While Charlie Sheen didn't reprise his role as Charlie Harper in the episode, Angus T.
01:58Jones guest-starred as Jake one last time.
02:01Jones' brief return to Two and a Half Men might have come as a surprise to anybody who
02:05knew him.
02:06In a March 2014 interview with KHOU, Jones had further elaborated on his departure from
02:11the show.
02:12He said,
02:13"'It was difficult for me to be on the show and be part of something that was making light
02:16of topics in our world where there are really problems for a lot of people.
02:20I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn't okay with it and I was still doing it.'"
02:24That being said, Jones also expressed remorse for how he'd handled his public announcement
02:28of the show, especially due to the impact it had on Chuck Lorre.
02:31He added,
02:32"'That's like his baby, and I just totally insulted his baby.
02:35And to that degree I am apologetic, but otherwise I don't regret saying what I said.'"
02:40Unlike Sheen, Jones apologized and tried to make amends with Lorre while the sitcom was
02:44still on air, so the door was left open for his last hurrah.
02:47"'Amazing that you've made so much money with such stupid jokes.'"
02:56Jones has always been frank about his struggle to reconcile his faith with the raunchy story
03:00arcs of Two and a Half Men.
03:02At one point, he was more than willing to leave Hollywood behind him because of his
03:05newfound beliefs.
03:07In 2016, he told People magazine,
03:09"'I got pretty doomsday with my thinking for a long time, but now I'm having fun and enjoying
03:13where I'm at.
03:14I no longer feel like every step I take is on a landmine."
03:18Jones explained that, having embarked on a spiritual journey of sorts, he had reached
03:21a place in which he was more comfortable with his life and career.
03:25He said,
03:26"'Over the last three years, I've been involved with various faith-based organizations.
03:30Right now, I'm stepping away from the organizational business model programs.
03:34I'm interested in seeing where I go without an organization putting a stamp of approval
03:38on if I'm good or bad or whatever.'"
03:40Jones hit the headlines in 2016 when news broke that he would be teaming up with UCLA
03:45linebacker Kenny Orgioke and P. Diddy's son, Justin Combs, to run an experience-based live
03:50events company known as Tonight.
03:52Jones was to take the role of president of entertainment in the organization.
03:56In an interview with Billboard, Jones explained how he came to be involved in this venture.
04:00He said,
04:01"'A friend of mine from the University in Boulder at Colorado named Sherard introduced
04:05me to Kenny.
04:06Justin and I met three years ago and we became friends.
04:09I came out to California and got to hang out and get to know the whole idea."
04:12They appeared to be all in on the company, too, with Combs roping in his father to help
04:16promote a Halloween event known as The Purge in 2016.
04:20Sadly, things didn't seem to work out.
04:22The status of Tonight is currently unknown, and the website has since been taken offline.
04:28Even after he announced his return to Hollywood, Jones' career hasn't exactly thrived post
04:32Two and a Half Men.
04:33His first IMDb credit after the show is on Louis C.K.'s 2016 self-financed web series
04:38Horace & Pete, in which he played the part of Horace the Ninth in a single episode.
04:43Appearing on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron in 2016, C.K. explained how he had been fascinated
04:49by Jones' departure from Two and a Half Men, which helped him inform his character in Horace
04:53& Pete.
04:54I said, I want you to play a guy in a world that's very amoral, but you're not.
05:00In your mind, you're moral.
05:02At one point, Louis C.K. mulled over a second season of Horace & Pete, but the sexual misconduct
05:07allegations levied against him in 2017 seem to have put an end to that.
05:12After Angus T. Jones publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Two and a Half Men, his
05:16mother, Carrie Jones, spoke out about her own concerns.
05:19Speaking to Mail Online about her son in 2012, Carrie said,
05:23I'm concerned he's being exploited by the church.
05:25Of course, Angus later stepped back from these faith-based organizations.
05:29Luckily, it doesn't seem like this brief period damaged his relationship with his mother.
05:33Carrie's Instagram features many pictures with her, Angus, and her younger son, Otto.
05:38In 2016, the trio attended a forest wedding and posted a few pictures together.
05:43On Mother's Day in 2019, Carrie posted a picture of her holding a gun alongside Angus and Otto.
05:48The caption read,
05:49Every day is Mother's Day when you have two awesome boys like these.
05:54At one point in Two and a Half Men, Jake Harper demonstrates his love for music by strumming
05:58a few notes from Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water.
06:00It appears that Angus T. Jones shares Jake's passion for music, although they might not
06:04be fans of the same genre.
06:06In March 2020, Jones shared a post on Instagram with the caption,
06:10I do music now.
06:11Go ahead and get used to it, loves.
06:13Soon after, Jones, his brother Otto, and two friends dropped a single called Burger 25
06:18under the name Bonk Boys.
06:20It's not quite clear whether the group's hip-hop track was released as a gag or with the intent
06:24to start something serious, because, well, it's something alright.
06:28To date, the Bonk Boys haven't released another track.
06:31Maybe there's a collab with Drake or Kendrick Lamar somewhere on the horizon.
06:34Or maybe not.
06:36Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre ended their bitter feud after Two and a Half Men and later
06:40worked together on the 2023 comedy series Bookie.
06:43In the show's first season, Sheen plays a fictionalized version of himself who hosts
06:47a poker game at a rehabilitation facility.
06:50And if the people around the table look familiar, they should be, since they also featured in
06:54the famous poker scene from the pilot episode of Two and a Half Men.
06:58Lorre told Variety that he and Sheen knew they had to get Angus T. Jones involved in
07:01their unofficial reunion, and Jones was more than up for it.
07:05Lorre said,
07:06To work together again, 20 years later, we had fun.
07:09It was a wonderful afternoon.
07:11Everybody had the same reaction.
07:12Oh my God, you're a grown man.
07:14This reunion got tongues wagging about a possible reunion or continuation of Two and a Half Men,
07:19especially since everyone appears to be on better terms these days.
07:22Lorre was hesitant to commit to anything, however, insisting that he was just happy
07:26to have a chance to reconnect with Sheen after all those years.
07:30Two and a Half Men was one of the most popular sitcoms of its era, meaning, among other things,
07:34the cast were given hefty paychecks to keep the laughs flowing, and that included Angus
07:38T. Jones.
07:40Before 2010, the actor was on a $250,000-per-episode deal, becoming the highest-paid child star
07:46at the time.
07:47For Jones' last contract on Two and a Half Men, which he signed at the age of 16, he
07:51made a reported $300,000-per-episode as well as a $500,000 signing bonus.
07:57Considering his final two seasons on the show consisted of 47 episodes, Jones would have
08:02walked away with over $14 million in his pockets — before the IRS came knocking, of course.
08:08Jones never made headlines for being a splashy spender, and he appeared to choose a simpler
08:12lifestyle over the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
08:14So unless he bought each of his pals a brand-new Ferrari, he should have enough cash in the
08:18bank to last him a few lifetimes.
08:20Maybe that's why he isn't rushing to appear in much these days.