[Nyororin]

Wow... I`m so far removed from US media culture that I had no idea this was happening.
And another wow to the stunning behavior. Truly cringe worthy.

I find it very hard to think that this sort of thing would happen in Japan. The sort of background structure just doesn`t *exist* for it to happen... And when there is something big that happens, people don`t easily forget it. I mean, I know people who still think that Takeshi Kitano sucks because of the Friday office attack back in the 1980s. The very fact that I know that something like that happened at all is evidence in itself how long it takes people to forgive and forget celebrities acting out.
One single event is enough to get people shaking their heads and expressing disgust, and leading to the celebrity losing their access to the public - a continual string of events would lead to them being cut off altogether, with pretty much no chance of reappearing. As stupid as Japanese mass media can be, I don`t think there is as strong a desire to see someone go down in flames as there is in the US. (Which is what I think is giving Sheen the audience he has at this point.) People cringe and turn away instead of pulling out the popcorn to sit down and watch a train wreck.