I think this has been discussed on here before (ad nauseum), but the question of whether this was technically "cheating" or not is somewhat debateable. Not to defend Earl, because I personally feel that many of the things he has done are indefensible, but the argument for him in this particular case was that, in a match with a referee, the ref, not the players, is responsible for calling the fouls. That being said...
Do I think he should have called the foul on himself? Absolutely. Do I think that many other pros, including his opponent, would have called the foul on themselves? Yes. Did I lose a lot of respect for him when I saw that? Yes. Was it cheating? It's not clear to me whether it was or not, but I can see both sides of that argument.
I do know this, though, Charlie handled it a lot better that I would have.