Marilyn Manson sued over sexual assault of a minor
Marilyn Manson is being sued for sexual assault of a minor in relation to a series of alleged incidents in the 1990s.
Marilyn Manson is being sued for sexual assault of a minor.
The 'Rock is Dead' singer - whose real name is Brian Warner - has been accused of grooming, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress on an underage girl multiple times in the 1990s, while his former labels Interscope and Nothing Records have also been listed as defendants in the lawsuit, which has been filed by the alleged victim, who is now an adult, under the anonymous alias Jane Doe.
In the lawsuit, the woman - who alleged negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress from the record labels - told how she first met Manson in 1995 after a concert in Dallas when she was 16, a year under Texas' age of consent, and claimed he invited her “and one of the other younger girls” onto his tour bus, where he asked their ages and school grade before taking down their addresses and phone numbers.
The suit alleged: “While on the tour bus, Defendant Warner performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon Plaintiff, who was a virgin at the time, including but not limited to forced copulation and vaginal penetration.
“One of the band members watched Defendant Warner sexually assault Plaintiff.
“Plaintiff was in pain, scared, upset, humiliated and confused. After he was done, Defendant Warner laughed at her. … Then Defendant Warner demanded Plaintiff to ‘get the f*** off of my bus’ and threatened Plaintiff that, if she told anyone, he would kill her and her family.”
Jane Doe - who began using drugs and alcohol after the alleged incident - claimed she was given a number for the band and a password so she could meet the singer again, and stated the 'Dope Show' hitmaker used to call and chat with her online, requesting explicit photos of her and her friends.
Later that year, she said she was persuaded to go to a concert in New Orleans, where she was "groomed" by the singer complimenting her artwork.
The complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone magazine, stated: “Defendant Warner then became more aggressive and again sexually assaulted Plaintiff, including kissing, biting her breast, oral copulation, and penetration.
“After the second assault, Defendant Warner acted in a kinder manner nicer to Plaintiff and told her that he wanted to see her again.”
The pair remained in contact and when she was 18, the woman began dating then-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna, who allegedly urged her to move to Los Angeles, and while in the city, she attended a Marilyn Manson concert, where a band member encouraged her to attend another show in Dallas, and she then went to another in New Orleans.
At the third, in 1999, a crew member took her backstage, where there allegedly was "large amounts of drugs for her and others to use".
The accuser claimed she spent the next four weeks on the road with the group, taking drugs and spending hours with the singer, during which he would allegedly “groom, harass, and sexually abuse” her.
The suit added: “While she was still a child, Defendant Warner had purposefully and intentionally laid the groundwork necessary to intimidate and control her.
"Despite reaching the legal age of majority, that power to psychologically intimidate and control Plaintiff was still present. … While in Florida, Plaintiff considered going back home. Plaintiff spoke with Defendant Warner and revealed her vulnerabilities and a general lack of support she felt from her family. As he did on countless occasions, Defendant Warner exploited this vulnerability to keep Plaintiff under his control.
"Defendant Warner often made Plaintiff feel alone and isolated by telling her that no one understands her other than him, which included her family. At the time, Plaintiff believed Defendant Warner and was compelled to keep following him.”
And when she was 19, Jane Doe claimed the 54-year-old singer “perpetuated his grooming, manipulation, exploitation and sexual assault of Plaintiff” over the course of approximately a month.
The lawsuit argued the singer's record labels were "well-aware of Defendant Warner’s obsession with sexual violence and childhood sexual assault" and should have safeguarded the teenager from his alleged behaviour.
The singer's lawyer insisted he "does not know this individual".
Howard King added: "[He] has no recollection of ever having met her 28 years ago. He certainly was never intimate with her.”
He branded the allegations a "fabricated tale".
He added: "Even the most minimal amount of scrutiny reveals the obvious discrepancies in her ever-shifting stories as well as her extensive collusion with other false accusers … Brian will not submit to this shakedown – and the courts won’t fall for it either.”
More than a dozen women have accused the disgraced rocker of sexual abuse over the last two years, including his former fiancee Evan Rachel Wood, actress Esme Bianco - who recently reached an out-of-court settlement - and model Ashley Morgan Smithline, whose lawsuit was dismissed after she missed a key deadline.
Manson has "vehemently denied" the previous allegations against him.
