I didn't start the thread.
Charlie Chaplin was never a communist. His views were certainly to the left of center, as is seen by the speech in the OP. He was labeled along those lines by Hoover during the red scare--sad to see the myth continued here.
Chaplin was never remotely a pederast. A pederast is attracted to and has sex with young (prepubescent) boys. Chaplin's interests were to girls in the 16 year-old range. That is called ephebophilia.[/QUOT
Three times he was summoned before the Senate comittee to testify and three times he refused to show up. You'd think that with his great intelligence and theatrical talents he'd be chomping at the bit to defend himself. I'm not going to second guess the Dept. of States' decision to refuse him re-entry to the U.S.
And as for his sexual appetites, call it what you wish it is still RAPE. In his time, a 16 year old was a minor and that constituted rape in the eyes of the law. Minors could not give consent to sex with an adult.
Much like Roman Polanski who sodomized a 13 year old girl in L.A., Chaplin was a pariah and no one to be admired.