Angus T. Jones Looks Unrecognizable, Says He Was "Paid to Be a Hypocrite" on Two and a Half Men

Actor says the CBS sitcom made "light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people"

By Zach Johnson Mar 18, 2014 2:06 PMTags
Angus T. JonesYouTube

Angus T. Jones is back in the spotlight—not that he's easy recognizable.

The actor, who played Jake Harper for 10 years on CBS' Two and a Half Men, bore little resemblance to his former self when he talked to Houston TV station KHOU over the weekend. Sporting shaggy hair and a bushy beard, the 20-year-old college student once again publicly dissed his former employer.

Jones earned a reported $350,000 per episode during his final season as a full-time cast member. While it made him the richest teen on TV, he couldn't shake the fact that Two and a Half Men was out of alignment with his values. "It was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people, and I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn't okay with it, but I was still doing it," he said.

In November 2012, Jones appeared in a YouTube video posted by Alabama-based church Forerunner Chronicles, where he asked viewers boycott the show and to "stop filling your head with filth." Jones told them, "You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can't. I'm not okay with what I'm learning, what the Bible says, and being on that television show."

Jones later said he was sorry for bashing creator Chuck Lorre's Emmy-winning comedy. "I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed," he said in 2012. On Sunday, however, he backtracked a bit. "That's his, like, baby, and I just totally insulted his baby and to that degree I am apologetic," Jones said of Lorre, "but otherwise I don't regret saying what I said."

Since the Seventh-day Adventist Church of North America baptized him in 2012, Jones has been focused on his faith. Still, he plans to return to acting at some point. "I really want to come into the light because I know that is where the healing is and I've seen God do amazing things," Jones said. "There [are] a few different productions that like do kind of Bible-based stories. Stuff like that."

Jones was downgraded to recurring status for Season 11 of Two and a Half Men. However, he has yet to appear in any new episodes of the show in 2013-2014.