The Disturbing Reasons Marilyn Manson Fans Believe His Accusers Are 'Lying'
They think he's innocent.
Zamrznuti tonovi | Shutterstock In the aftermath of the cult-like following that surrounded Johnny Depp as he battled against abuse claims made by his ex-wife Amber Heard, a darker fandom has emerged.
Fans of singer Marilyn Manson have turned against his sexual abuse accusers, largely using Depp's case as momentum for a targetted campaign against the woman who came forward against Manson.
These fans have created a disturbing subreddit dedicated to proving that his accusers are "lying" about their accusations — which include allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse that spans across years.
The subreddit, r/justice4marilynmanson, and other similar groups eerily mirror ones made for Depp during his defamation trial against Heard.
Based on the misguided assumption that women who come forward with abuse allegations are compelled to lie for personal gain, Manson's fans claim much of the evidence that has been presented against him by his former partner, Evan Rachel Wood, and 16 other women, is substantial.
Marilyn Manson's fans have attempted to 'debunk' the evidence against him.
In one Reddit post, a user asked the small community to discuss "What’s the one piece of evidence that convinced you the girls are lying?"
RELATED: ‘I Stand With Marilyn Manson’ Movement Grows As Johnny Depp Fans Target Evan Rachel Wood
One user brought up actress Rose McGowan, who was engaged to Manson for two years, writing: "I think one thing that speaks quite plainly in [Marilyn Manson]'s favor is Rose McGowan's positive account of their relationship in her biography, which is full of quite scathing accounts for her other exes."
In an Instagram post after Evan Rachel Wood and a slew of other women came out with allegations against them, McGowan shared a video showing her solidarity and support for the women who had come forward.
“I am profoundly sorry to those who have suffered the abuse & mental torture of Marilyn Manson,” she wrote.
While McGowan did say that while she was with Manson "he was not like that," she went on to clarify that it "has no bearing on whether he was like that with others, before or after."
In defense of Manson, another user wrote: "For me, it's the 'Repressed Memory' factor."
In March 2022, one of Manson's accusers, former assistant Ashley Walters, amended a lawsuit initially filed in May 2021 to state that she’d repressed memories of the sexual abuse and battery she claimed to endure during her time working for Manson, and had only confronted them during therapy sessions in fall 2020.
It's a very common thing for abuse survivors, when sharing their stories, to sometimes describe forgetting or repressing memories of their abuse for years, even decades before the memories resurface.
According to Rick Hohfeler, a licensed psychologist who spoke to Awake Milwaukee, a nonprofit organization focused on sexual abuse awareness, the brain does hold those memories but processes the information differently than other, ordinary experiences.
In another Reddit group dedicated to Manson, a user asks "[Is] there ANY real evidence against Marilyn Manson?"
They claim that the allegations are "just word against word." Fortunately, one commenter points out that even Manson's "word" could prove the allegations against him.
In Manson's 1998 memoir he disturbingly recounts sexually assaulting an unconscious woman who he tricked into getting drunk.
"Me and the young Trent Reznor poked out fingers into the birth cavity of a bizarre fish lady in search of some sort of caviar," Manson wrote.
"We knew we must continue with our debasement of this poor unsuspecting person. So I found a cigarette lighter and I started to burn her pubic hair."
Trent Reznor has denied his involvement in this alleged incident.
Recently, Evan Rachel Wood, who is gearing up to face Manson in court after he filed his own defamation lawsuit against the actress, took to Instagram to share how the media relentlessly bullied Amber Heard during her trial against Johnny Depp.
Wood shared an article that reported findings from a group dedicated to uncovering online bots. Through their findings, they discovered that the Depp/Heard trial was one of the "worst cases of cyberbullying."
The report also noted that many of the accounts created for the sole purpose of tweeting about Heard and the defamation trial were now being set up to target Wood.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.