26. A Media Feeding Frenzy
Police investigators went with the theory that the heavy impact of the overweight Fatty Arbuckle’s atop Virginia Rappe during intercourse caused her bladder to rupture. Arbuckle denied any wrongdoing, but was arrested and charged with essentially having sexually abused Virginia Rappe to the point of death. It was a major media event – the OJ Simpson criminal scandal of the day.
Arbuckle was regarded by those who knew him as good-natured and shy with women – “the most chaste man in pictures“, as some put it. Charlie Chaplain, for example, “knew Roscoe as a genial and easy-going man, who would not harm a fly“. However, newspapers went with a far different image, depicting him as a gross pervert, who routinely used his massive bulk to overpower and abuse innocent girls. The damage to Arbuckle’s public image was irreversible.