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That Time Charlie Chaplin Was Nearly Murdered in an Attempt to Start a War

Published

2 weeks ago

24 November 2025

That Time Charlie Chaplin Was Nearly Murdered in an Attempt to Start a War

Charlie Chaplin is famous for many reasons. As a silent actor, he pioneered physical comedy in classics such as The Circus and City Lights and when he transitioned to using sound elements after 1936’s Modern Times, people were amazed by his command over the English language, leading to perhaps his most iconic performance coming with his climactic monologue in The Great Dictator. However, there was an event that not only could have prevented the second half of his career in non-silent films but was also designed to act as a catalyst for a war that would have altered the geopolitical landscape of the early 20th century. This was known as the May 15th Incident, when Japanese ultranationalists attempted to assassinate Chaplin along with a host of other Japanese politicians to restore the emperor’s power in an increasingly democratic Japan. The event not only reflects how the world was changing at this point in history, but also just how influential and popular Chaplin was that people believed his death could spark outrage enough to go to war.

Sumo Saved Charlie Chaplin From a Political Assassination

Charlie Chaplin eating at the table in 'The Gold Rush' — Charlie Chaplin eating at the table in ‘The Gold Rush’

Political assassinations are always thoroughly complex topics with countless political actors holding different motivations and a long chain of events that lead to the eventual attack. However, for a summary, much of the May 15th incident revolves around the signing of the London Naval Treaty in 1930, which limited the ships in the British, U.S., and Japanese navies to a ratio of 10:10:7, respectively. Even though this was a ratio more favorable to the Japanese than the originally planned 5:5:3 ratio, certain junior officers within the Japanese navy believed this was the result of a weak government and that a Shōwa Restoration, meaning the disbanding of democracy and a return to the rule of emperors, was necessary.

Still of Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936)

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Goin’ to the Chaplin of love.

With the help of Nisshō Inoue and his League of Blood organization, these naval officers assassinated the Japanese Prime Minister, Inukai Tsuyoshi, and had planned to kill Chaplin too, who was visiting Japan at the time. However, Charlie Chaplin was nowhere to be found due to the fact that he was watching a sumo wrestling match with the Prime Minister’s son at the time of the incident. The reason for targeting Chaplin was that these ultranationalists believed killing Chaplin would begin a war with the U.S ., as they admitted during their trial, and the hope was that this catastrophe would force the government to move towards a larger military and imperialistic nature.

Charlie Chaplin’s Planned Assassination Reflects How Influential the Legend Was

Whether Chaplin’s death would have truly been enough to begin a war between what were two superpowers at the time, Japan and the U.S., as it was with Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in 1914, for World War I, is debatable. However, the mere intention reflects the understanding of Chaplin’s value as a diplomat for the West, showing the growing nature of global superstars at a time when the technology of film and radio was beginning to connect people on different continents. As a champion of the arts and, indeed, liberty, as he would prove in The Great Dictator, Chaplin was a bastion of the West who represented the values they tried to emulate, and it is not unreasonable to consider an attack on him an attack on those values.

This would, of course, not be the only moment where Chaplin and politics interlinked, and it probably isn’t as famous as it arguably should be. If the naval officers’ plan had gone to plan, not only would Japan have been left without a Prime Minister, but the U.S. and U.K. would have needed to respond to the killing of one of their best and brightest on the world stage. If there had been a war, who knows how that would have affected the wider events of Hitler’s tyranny in Europe and the ability of the Axis to be a threatening alliance against the Allied forces later in the decade? Yet, because of sumo wrestling, thankfully, Chaplin’s life was spared, and the world got to experience some truly magnificent art because of it. In the end, it shows how one’s success can validate important philosophical values, yet also place a target on one’s back, and it is the responsibility of those like Chaplin to shoulder that burden so that these ideas never lose their significance.

The Great Dictator is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S.