I heard this is how it started. He is given so much money per episode which equals a certain amount per season. Because of his antics and issues, it was decided to cut back the number of episodes which cut his yearly amount down signifigantly.
Then came the verbal aasualt by Charlie, which resulted in the halting of production, then it escalated to more money demands which were unrealistic to begin with.
Mix in that when the season was cut down, Charlie wanted to speak out but his handlers wouldn't allow it so he fired them and started booking interviews everywhere. His PR group was primarily responsible for keeping him from doing damage to himself and putting the silly spins on his bad behavior prior to them being fired to make him seem like the loveable screwup.