What a Creep
Season 26, Episode 1
Fatty Arbuckle: The First Movie Star Scandal
The Fatty Arbuckle scandal in the 1920s significantly impacted Hollywood and the career of comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. He was accused of raping and accidentally killing an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe during a party he hosted. After three trials, Arbuckle was acquitted, but his career suffered, and he was blacklisted in Hollywood. Rappe’s cause of death was never properly explored, and her legacy is that of a victim who was devoured by her craving for adulation and fame.
Trigger warnings: Sexual assault
Season 26, Episode 1
Fatty Arbuckle: The First Movie Star Scandal
The Fatty Arbuckle scandal in the 1920s significantly impacted Hollywood and the career of comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. He was accused of raping and accidentally killing an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe during a party he hosted. After three trials, Arbuckle was acquitted, but his career suffered, and he was blacklisted in Hollywood. Rappe’s cause of death was never properly explored, and her legacy is that of a victim who was devoured by her craving for adulation and fame.
Trigger warnings: Sexual assault
Sources:
- · Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-skinny-on-the-fatty-arbuckle-trial-131228859/
- · The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/fatty-arbuckle-and-the-birth-of-the-celebrity-scandal
- · YouTube “Hats Off Entertainment” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsrIlnZwzHw
- · BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14640719
- · Thought Company: https://www.thoughtco.com/fatty-arbuckle-scandal-1779625
- · History.com: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/silent-film-star-arrested-for-murder
- · Found SF: https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Fatty_Arbuckle_Scandal
- · Forty Quarts of Liquor by Dave Zuda
- · The Casual Criminalist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08G18wZ12Sk
- · Virginia Rappe Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Rappe
- · Room 2019 by Greg Merritt
- You Must Remember This: Fatty Arbuckle (2018)
- · Crime Library: https://web.archive.org/web/20150210053306/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/fatty_arbuckle/3.html
- · People Vs. Arbuckle: https://peoplevsarbuckle.com/2023/09/09/september-9-1921-virginia-rappes-last-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day/
- · PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-sexual-assault-case-that-shocked-hollywood-almost-a-century-ago
- · The Independent (UK): https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/who-was-virginia-rappe-the-true-story-of-the-rising-career-and-shocking-death-of-a-1920s-star-and-the-fatty-arbuckle-trial-b405039.html