Updated at the bottom with Sheen taking it all back, sort of. First posted at 12:09 p.m.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blamed us evil-doers in the media for our interest in a photo in which he posed with Charlie Sheen at a Los Cabos hotel over the holidays. We're in the business, he said, “of making people look bad.” We like to chase TMZ, he said.

Fair enough. We'd have left it alone if he would have come straight in the first place.

Charlie Sheen says the mayor is lying about the circumstances; he says that Villaraigosa was indeed partying and that there were “hot women” and at least one porn star present:

It all started on Dec. 29 or thereabouts when Sheen tweeted a photo of himself and mayor at Hotel El Ganzo in Los Cabos. Sheen said, “Antonio Villaraigosa knows how to party!”

Villaraigosa told NBC Los Angeles that he does not know how to party. He said he simply bumped into him for a moment. He claimed this on Sunday:

View more videos at: https://nbclosangeles.com.

I had a three minute conversation. I took a picture with him. First of all, I was vacationing. Let me make clear about something. I'm in the picture-taking business. … I take a picture every single day, virtually 50 times. I took a picture with him. Simple as that.

(And here we think it's fair to note that the mayor of America's second-largest city thinks his job is to take pictures all day, which makes some sense given the condition of our streets and the red ink plaguing our budget).

Villaraigosa also said:

… I wasn't with him and I wasn't at the … I actually did go upstairs to that bar but he wasn't there.

The TV star was celebrating the earlier opening of a bar at the hotel called Sheenz.

Sheen is flat-out contesting the mayor's version of events — even saying his own memory is good from all those lines … he has to memorize.

The actor says the encounter happened at his hotel suite and that the mayor did “party” for two hours.

A porn star and other attractive women were present, he told TMZ.

(Here we are, chasing TMZ again).

” … He can drink with the best of 'em — me,” Sheen said of his honor.

Today Villaraigosa told reporters that he said all he was going to say about the matter, though when a reporter stated that what happens in Cabos stays in Cabos the mayor seemed to agree.

On NBC Los Angeles Sunday the mayor defended his holiday break, too, indicating that he works so hard (on President Obama's reelection campaign, traveling to other states and countries, attending the Oscars, dating TV news reporters and perhaps even a Hollywood star) that he deserves to unplug from the rigors of his job:

I was on a vacation. I deserve a vacation from time to time.

Again, remember, if this makes Villaraigosa look bad, it's the media's fault.

[Added at 12:58 p.m.]: TMZ has an unscientific but nonetheless intriguing reader poll online that asks “Who's Lying?”

So far, 95 percent say Villaraigosa is the one who's truth-challenged about this Los Cabos encounter.

(Though we are part of the evil media, we try to be fair: In order to see the results you have to vote. We voted Charlie as the liar. Just for the results).

[Updated at 11:30 p.m.]: Perhaps to get some of the heat off the mayor, Sheen issued an apology that muddies the issue more than anything.

Speaking through publicist Larry Solters, Sheen told the Los Angeles Times that the mayor was “gracious” in their meeting and that he apologizes “if any of my words have been misconstrued.”

Huh?

On Sheen's side there was drinking, partying and two hours of fun. On the mayor's there was a three-minute photo op.

How can two hours versus three minutes be misconstrued? It seems to us one person is lying, and other isn't.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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