Charlie Sheen finds continued success on 'Two and a Half Men,' while Chris Brown is slated to be a musical guest on 'SNL.' Why are we supporting woman-beaters?

I don’t care how high-minded you are, if you spend the majority of the day in front of your computer as many of us do, you follow celebrity news to some extent. I’m guilty of knowing who Justin Bieber is dating, although I couldn’t name a single one of his songs. However, celebrity news rarely affects my life in any tangible way, until now: I’m not watching Saturday Night Live on February 12.

Despite the tired, “SNL hasn’t been good since ___” jokes, I have a season pass on my DVR and watch at least most of it weekly. But on February 12, I’m preemptively deleting my recording because Chris Brown is the musical guest.

How in the holy hell does this guy still have a career?

February 12 is only a few days away from the two year anniversary of the night Chris Brown beat the ever-loving shit out of his then-girlfriend, pop-star Rihanna. In fact, February 12 is the exact day that ABC News released this story about Rihanna telling police that it was not the first time Brown had beaten her.

In case the interceding two years have made us hazy on the details, Brown and Rihanna got into an argument after a Grammy party. During this altercation, Brown “put his hands around her neck and, according to the insider, said, ‘I’m going to kill you!'” The attack left Rihanna with “major contusions on both sides of the singer’s face — there [was] serious swelling and bruising. Her lip [was] split and her nose bloody.” She was also left with “bite marks on one of her arms and on several fingers.”

Again, I ask how in the hell does this guy have a career?

I do believe in forgiveness, and I believe in second chances. However, I believe that you have to earn both. Has Chris Brown done this? A few weeks after the assault, he was photographed smiling and flexing his muscles while riding jet skis in Miami. Five months after the attack, he released a scripted, half-hearted video in which he apologizes while not exactly saying what he’s apologizing for, and just this past December, he got into a Twitter fight in which he, in part, berated an alleged sexual assault victim.

Of course, Brown isn’t the only woman-beater who’s currently experiencing success in Hollywood. Charlie Sheen may be causing production delays on Two and a Half Men after his latest bender, but his job seems to be just as secure as ever. The internet seems to be focusing on the more ridiculous aspects of Sheen’s current scandal: The briefcase full of coke, the porn, and the hookers, while leaving out some of the less-funny aspects of Sheen’s personal life.

Most recently, there was porn star Capri Anderson, who locked herself in the bathroom of the Plaza Hotel room she was sharing with Sheen to protect herself as he went on a violent, drug-fueled rampage. A year ago, Sheen was charged with three crimes stemming from a Christmas attack on his then-wife Brooke Mueller that allegedly involved a knife.

Before Mueller, Sheen’s ex-wife, Denise Richards, also claimed that he had abused her. Richards “filed a sworn declaration in the Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Sheen assaulted her and threatened her life during a December 2005 altercation at her home. She claims that while visiting with the couple’s two children, Sheen called her a series of vulgar names and shoved her to the ground in front of their children.”

Before that, in 1990, Sheen’s engagement to actress Kelly Preston ended after he shot her in the arm in what was later ruled to be an “accidental shooting.”

Seemingly every long-term relationship this man is in ends in violence. Yet he is the highest-paid television actor in Hollywood.

Why do we put these men on television? Why do we, as viewers, pay their salaries? As long as men like Brown and Sheen continue to have careers fueled by money we are giving them, then we are sending the message that it’s okay to hit women — as long as you can sing or act.

Instead of Entertainment Weekly asking if there’s a tasteful way for Brown to do a skit about beating Rihanna (!), why don’t we ask why the fuck that is even remotely considered to be a valid question? Instead of debating whether or not advertisers were right to drop Skins because of actors pretending to be teenagers having sex, why don’t we ask why advertisers keep paying premium rates for Two and a Half Men? Or why they’re not dropping SNL?

Paul Reubens didn’t work for a decade after he was caught masturbating in an adult theater, and Janet Jackson was vilified after accidentally showing her nipple at The Super Bowl. These people didn’t hurt anyone, yet those who inflict actual physical violence on individuals still earn our entertainment dollars.

It’s not fucking okay.

Photo Credit: AP/Kona Gallagher