Billy Corgan Explains Why He Has Stood by Marilyn Manson, Saying He Doesn’t Want the World to Tell Him Who His Friends Are

Billy Corgan, frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins, said he is staying loyal to his friend Marilyn Manson. Speaking Thursday (Oct. 22) on The New York Times Popcast, Corgan explained why he has maintained the friendship with the shock rocker.

“As a Christian person, you have to stand by your friends, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and it doesn’t mean you’re not critical,” Corgan began, pausing to choose his words carefully. “In his case — and I’m not here to adjudicate it — but the [district attorney] looked at the case for five years.”

“In some cases, I knew personal things behind the scenes that are not in the public sphere,” the Chicago musician continued. “I personally didn’t feel that he was guilty of the things that he was being charged with, and ultimately the fact that the DA didn’t pursue … [it] was commensurate with the person I knew.”

Corgan and Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, have known each other for decades. A couple of years after they became friends in the ’90s, they had a rift that lasted up until 2015, when they reunited for their joint End Times Tour.

About six years after the two men made peace, Evan Rachel Wood named Manson as her alleged abuser after years of advocating against domestic violence. Several other women then came forward with accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against him. Manson has continuously denied all of the claims. In January 2025, Los Angeles DA Nathan J. Hochman announced that after a four-year investigation, Manson would not face criminal charges because of the statute of limitations and a lack of ways to prove the charges.

“While we are unable to bring charges in this matter, we recognize that the strong advocacy of the women involved has helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault,” Hochman stated at the time.

Manson’s attorney Howard King told Billboard shortly after the decision, “We are very pleased that, after a thorough and incredibly lengthy review of all of the actual evidence, the district attorney has concluded what we knew and expressed from the start — Brian Warner is innocent.”

On Popcast, Corgan shared some of his view on the legal proceedings. “I knew the inside baseball of the case, and so you make those evaluations,” he said. “At the end of the day, I feel I made the right determination.”

“I don’t want the world to tell me who my friends are and who I should associate with, politically, socially,” Corgan also noted. “In Brian’s case, we have a relationship that goes back 30 years. Manson’s wife, Lindsay [Usich] is a twin, and her twin is Ashley, and Ashley is married to James Iha of the Pumpkins. So Manson’s basically a part of our family. There’s a deeper set of relationships there.”

Although the criminal investigation into Manson ended without charges, he has faced civil lawsuits from some of his accusers for years. In January, his former assistant Ashley Walters reopened her sexual assault lawsuit against him for a second time after two earlier dismissals. He was also sued by Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco, with whom he settled in 2023, and by model Ashley Morgan Smithline, whose case was dismissed that same year.

Manson has denied all of the allegations in each of these cases, as well as the initial accusations from Wood that led other women to come forward. “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” she alleged on Instagram at the time. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander or blackmail.”

“Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” Manson said in response to the actress. He was romantically involved with Wood for four years and parted ways with her months after they got engaged in 2010. “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) — which is available 24/7, 365 days — or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website.

Corgan’s full Popcast interview is available below.

Source: Billboard