Charlie Sheen Calls O.J. Simpson a ‘Tool’ in His New Memoir — Here’s Why

Charlie Sheen has no love for the late O.J. Simpson, whom he calls “a tool” in his new memoir, The Book of Sheen.

In the newly released tome, Sheen, 60, recalls the time he was with his family in Italy on the set of the 1976 film The Cassandra Crossing — his dad Martin Sheen’s movie that also starred Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster and O.J. Simpson.

During a break in between scenes, Sheen, who was 10 years old, says he got into a heated game of ping pong with O.J., aka “The Juice.”

“The volleys were furious, we were 21-all, it was way past my bedtime,” Sheen recalls. “O.J. was extremely competitive and clearly didn’t give a f— that his opponent was a shy ten-year-old child.”

Sheen says the other actors and crew members gathered around to watch the outcome of the exciting match, noting that the setup must have been comical — one of the greatest athletes in the world playing against a “floating head with long hair and a paddle.”

Sheen was an athletic kid himself — he had played baseball throughout his childhood and for his high school team, and was even offered a scholarship at a junior college that would lead to playing for the University of Kansas. But it wasn’t enough to clinch the win.

“That’s when his paddle changed hands,” Sheen wrote. “The sneaky move was so smooth and subtle, I’m positive it went unnoticed by everyone.” He says that Simpson knew Sheen had “clocked it,” and that it was a subtle message telling him, ‘Not tonight, kid.’ ”

“He was staring right through me when he made the swap…he’d given me the underdog-unleashed show that I’d released, but the win? Not a chance.”

Sheen recalls Simpson’s winning shot as a blur, one that ricocheted off a wardrobe cart 20 ft. behind him, and says his right hand was ‘lethal.’ Sheen says he was disappointed but took the loss in stride, especially after Sophia Loren kissed him on the cheek as a consolation. Still, he never forgot the move, and says he and Simpson always shared that secret.

“He knew that I knew,” he wrote. “The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was set up. Lured in with the off hand, only to be crushed like a bug when it mattered most. What a tool.”

In August, Sheen spoke with PEOPLE about why he wanted to share stories of his past in both the memoir and his new Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, which is also out now.

“It’s not about me setting the record straight or righting all the wrongs of my past,” Sheen said of releasing both projects at once, and doing a deep dive into his struggles with drugs and alcohol.

“Most of my 50s were spent apologizing to the people I hurt,” he says. “I also didn’t want to write from the place of being a victim. I wasn’t, and I own everything I did. It’s just me, finally telling the stories in the way they actually happened.” He joked, “The stories I can remember, anyway.”

The Book of Sheen is on shelves now, wherever books are sold. aka Charlie Sheen is currently streaming on Netflix.