Kanye West Bringing Marilyn Manson Onstage Is An Attack On Evan Rachel Wood & All Sexual Abuse Survivors
Kanye doesn't get to decide if Marilyn Manson deserves forgiveness.
Featureflash Photo Agency / DFree / Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock Each of Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ listening parties over the last number of weeks have been nothing if not outrageous.
From his full face masks to his controversial religious — and maybe even Satanic — symbolism, West has shocked many.
But his most controversial moment yet has to be inviting accused rapist Marilyn Manson, onstage as part of what is being interpreted as a misguided comment on cancel culture.
If West is trying to grant Manson forgiveness, he is completely mistaken if he thinks he, his audience or any of his fans have the right to grant Manson absolution from his alleged crimes.
Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson’s other accusers decide if he needs forgiveness — not Kanye West.
Before naming Marilyn Manson, or Brian Warner, as her abuser in February 2021, Evan Rachel Wood spent years speaking out about her experience of domestic abuse and rape.
She lobbied Congress as a survivor and advocated for the rights of those experiencing sexual abuse.
Yet, despite widespread speculation, Wood kept her alleged abuser’s identity to herself. Her experience is one many survivors of sexual violence can relate to.
It’s one thing to confront your abuse, it’s an entirely more difficult thing to confront your abuser.
In 2021, over 10 years after ending her relationship with Manson, she named the rocker and accused him of grooming, sexual assault and rape.
She said she was “done living in fear of retaliation” and criticized the “many industries that enabled” Manson.
Now, it’s hard not to wonder if having her alleged abuser stand on stage at one of the most high-profile music events of the year is the exact kind of retaliation and enabling she feared.
Marilyn Manson’s appearance at the ‘Donda’ listening party disrespects all sexual abuse survivors.
Manson is currently part of four lawsuits accusing him of a range of sex crimes and has been accused of similar acts by several other women.
Watching him stand behind Kanye West in a crowded stadium and hearing him sing about “Goin to jail” on one of the most highly-anticipated albums of the year is disturbing to say the least.
The performance is not only an insult to the bravery of his alleged victims but a slap in the face of all survivors of sexual violence.
To watch a man accused of such grotesque crimes have his name, face, and voice represented in this way plays into the fear many survivors hold about not being believed or respected after coming forward.
Kanye West, DaBaby & Marilyn Manson’s ‘cancel culture’ performance missed the mark.
Making Manson an icon for forgiveness takes his alleged victims stories out of their hands and retells it as an awry social commentary that diminishes their claims.
Manson has denied the allegations leveled against him so if West wants us to give him our forgiveness, he must first take accountability for that which needs forgiving.
As for the cancel culture allegory, West should probably reconsider his definition of the term.
Refusing to support the career of a man accused of criminal acts is not “cancelling” him, it’s choosing not to put money in the pocket of a man who may have profited from years of sexual abuse.
West has no right to tell us where our morals should lie just because he seems to have left his at the doors of Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Keep up with her Twitter for more.