28: 4. The Joan Barry Scandal and the Mann Act Scott Eyman Charlie Chaplin versus America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided After giving a political speech, Chaplin became involved with the unstab

4. The Joan Barry Scandal and the Mann Act Scott Eyman Charlie Chaplin versus America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided After giving a political speech, Chaplin became involved with the unstable Joan Barry in 1942. She held him at gunpoint and later initiated a paternity suit. The FBI targeted Chaplin, prosecuting him unsuccessfully under the Mann Act. Although a blood test proved he was not the father, the jury found against him, forcing him to pay child support for eighteen years. Barry later blamed the FBI for instigating the case. 1921