Is Marilyn Manson's Return the Symbolic End to Cancel Culture?
- Fred
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
Marilyn Manson was officially cancelled in 2021 by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Back in 2024, we wrote Marilyn Manson as the Cockroach. Our angle? We were kind of surprised that Manson was trying to get up off the mat. We really thought he would just sort of drift away. Our money quote from that 2024 article: "I couldn't find one person willing to take up for Manson. His record label dropped him like a hot potato. His talent agency couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He now appears to be floating on an island, putting out statements through his lawyers. But I'm going to defend him in one respect, Marilyn Manson didn't trick you. Manson pushed the accelerator to the floor and sold you sex, drugs, and rock and roll. In the end, he (allegedly) took the sex and the drugs too far. Way, way too far.'
Then, poof, Marilyn Manson disappeared behind a curtain of lawyers."
This afternoon, I was kind of surprised to see Evan Rachel Wood back in the news. From Louder Sound: "The thing that scared me the most was when I saw the mask go on." Evan Rachel Wood gives in-depth interview alleging Marilyn Manson is a narcissist "well-versed" in cult-like control."
In the long-titled article, she reiterated Manson's Abuse and continues the accusations that he brainwashed her. Her story did not change, she is pounding on the same drum.
I believed the allegations the first time around, but what are we still doing here? In 2022, Manson's Abuse was well chronically in the HBO documentary: Phoenix Rising.
It's 2026, why is this coming up specifically this week?
Well, apparently, Marilyn Manson released a new single, Front Toward Enemy, 12 hours ago that pulled a quarter of a million views.
And, apparently, there's a new album, One Assassination Under God - Part II, coming out in August. It's not a self-release, it's coming out on Nuclear Blast Records, a very respectable Metal Label.
A week after the album's release officially starts the Fall Tour. Manson is coming to my town on September 2nd, playing at Blossom Music Center, with a maximum capacity of just over 20,000.
Also in the news, Comedian Bill Maher stirred up controversy when he invited "cancelled" comic Louis C.K. to his Mark Twain Ceremony a few weeks back. According to FoxNews: "(Maher) declaring that canceled stars should not face a lifetime ban from the entertainment industry...the host of HBO’s "Real Time" argued that the court of public opinion frequently ignores the rule of law. He pointed to his recent interviews with actors Kevin Spacey and Woody Allen and insisted society needs to recognize when someone has done his time."
Who becomes the arbiter of THAT?
I am looking around the room. I'm not in favor of cancel culture by any means, but how did we get here?
Editor's (Controversial) Note: I was a huge fan of Manson's until his Eat Me, Drink Me album. That album was terrible and Manson never got his Mojo back. I wanted to hear the new song, but, full disclosure, I am now deaf, cannot review properly. You know when Marilyn Manson jumped the shark? When he wrote the love song "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides the Hand)." The muse for his soft side? Evan Rachel Wood. My very unpopular opinion? He ruined her life, she ruined his career...artistically.
Bill Maher is fundamentally correct about cancel culture, but I really disliked Woody Allen even before any of his charges came to light (1992). He may be the most overrated director in American Cinematic History and made more (bad) movies after the initial charges against him than Quentin Tarantino made (total) in his entire career.