Yesterday Westworld’s Evan Rachel Wood publicly alleged that the singer Marilyn Manson (also known as Brian Warner) abused her in a prior relationship. As more women have come forward, Starz and AMC have announced an immediate termination of their relationships with Manson as they pertained to TV series American Gods and Creepshow.
Manson was already dropped by music label Loma Vista Records in the wake of Wood’s Instagram post Monday, stating that Manson “horrifically abused” her during their relationship and that she was “brainwashed and manipulated into submission.” Today, the Hollywood Reporter also confirmed that the Creative Artists Agency has also dropped Manson. After Wood’s posting, at least four other women have come forward with additional allegations of abuse.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission,” Wood wrote. “I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”
Manson (38 at the time) and Wood (19 at the time) were publicly revealed to be in a relationship back in 2007 and engaged in 2010, but broke up that same year. While Wood has only now explicitly acknowledged Manson as her alleged abuser, she has previously discussed her history as a survivor of abuse, including in front of a U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee in 2018, as part of a legislative push to enact a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights across the country.
“My experience with domestic violence is this: toxic physical, mental, and sexual abuse, which started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, waking up to the man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body,” Wood said in her statement two years ago. She went on to speak before the California Senate Public Safety committee in 2019 as well and while she did not name her alleged abuser in either testimony, the context provided aligned with her relationship with Manson. You can watch some of the second testimony below but in part, she said, “He broke me down through means of starvation, sleep deprivation, and threats against my life, sometimes with deadly weapons, which would result in me having severe panic attacks where I was unable to breathe or stop shaking.”
Now that Manson has been named by Wood, both Starz and AMC also announced intent for the actor-singer to be removed from the third and second seasons of American Gods and Creepshow, respectively. Manson has responded to the actress’ allegations stating “my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.”
Deadline reports that Starz will remove Manson’s single remaining appearance in American Gods’ third season as Johan Wengren, the lead singer of a Viking death metal band called Blood Death — who actually appeared in last night’s already-scheduled fourth episode of the season, “The Unseen.”
Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse. pic.twitter.com/trXVFd6KFO
— American Gods US (@americangodsus) February 2, 2021
“Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season,” the network said in a statement provided to Deadline and then shared on social media. “Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse.”
AMC will also remove upcoming appearances by Manson in the second season of Creepshow. Deadline reports that the episode will be pulled, and the segment Manson was set to appear in will be replaced. Neither AMC nor Shudder have publicly commented on the allegations, however — when contacted by Gizmodo, a spokesperson for AMC confirmed that a segment featuring Manson set to appear in the upcoming season would be removed, and that it would not air.