In yet another development in the ongoing controversy surrounding embattled shock rocker Brian Warner, better known as Marilyn Manson, the rocker dropped his defamation lawsuit in which he claimed that his former fiancée Evan Rachel Wood and her associate, Illma Gore, manipulated a shocking number of women into making false sexual misconduct accusations against Manson.
To give you the shortest tl;dr version of this whole thing that I possible can: Wood has been implying for a long time that Manson was abusive towards her in their relationship without saying anything explicit, but in 2021 she made an Instagram post where she accused him outright, claiming he abused her and groomed her in a relationship that started when Manson was 36 and Wood was 18.
Wood’s accusations inspired more and more women to come forward, but Manson filed a defamation case against Wood and Gore in 2022 claiming that the pair manipulated women into accusing him, even posing as FBI agents to pressure accusers into making false statements. A judge found this to be kind of a silly basis for a lawsuit and threw out the case after Wood and Gore filed anti-SLAPP motions, and Manson was ordered to reimburse Wood for $327,000 in attorney fees. Manson later appealed his defamation case against Wood, with his attorneys claiming that Wood and Gore fabricated a letter claiming to be FBI agents to “create the false appearance that Warner was under FBI investigation and his ‘victims’ were in danger.”
According to a new article from Rolling Stone, Wood’s attorneys Michael Klump, Shawn Holley, and Katherine Kleindienst released a statement saying that, this past spring, Manson tried to settle with Wood while simultaneously appealing the case, offering to pay a portion of the legal fees he was ordered to reimburse wood for in return for keeping the settlement confidential. Wood essentially told him to fuck off with that offer, and Manson eventually just dropped the suit against her, agreeing to pay the fees.
A representative for Wood said in a statement:
“Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career. But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed.As the trial court correctly found, Warner’s claims were meritless. Warner’s decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much.”
Manson is, of course, innocent until proven guilty, although, amongst his fans, he seems to be innocent long after demonstrating his guilt. Repeatedly he’s acted like a petulant child through this whole thing and never once acted like someone who didn’t do what he was being accused of. The idea that Wood and Gore orchestrated this many women to make false accusations is patently absurd. The more likely explanation, obviously, is that the women who came forward all did so on their own without being coerced. Even if they were being coerced, it seems hard to imagine what Wood’s motive would be to orchestrate such an elaborate conspiracy. But naturally, our comments section will be full of Manson stans trying to explain how the Teflon Superstar did nothing wrong, so why do I even bother?
