Nine Inch Nails Frontman Trent Reznor Denounces Marilyn Manson Following Abuse Allegations

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor denounced his former friend and collaborator Marilyn Manson following abuse and “grooming” allegations made by the rocker’s ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood.

“I have been vocal over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and cut ties with him nearly 25 years ago,” said Reznor in a statement to Pitchfork. Now that Manson is facing accusations of sexual assault and psychological abuse, some are wondering if Reznor had knowledge of such activities, given that the two had been friends and collaborators for years.

“As I said at the time, the passage from Manson’s memoir is a complete fabrication. I was infuriated and offended back when it came out and remain so today,” Reznor said, referring to a passage from Manson’s 1998 autobiography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, according to Pitchfork. The passage in question allegedly addresses an anecdote, in which Manson recounts a scene where he and Reznor allegedly physically and sexually assault an inebriated woman in the 1990s.

In the passage, Manson details an incident in which “me and the young Trent Reznor poked our fingers into the birth cavity” of an intoxicated woman, according to a report by Consequence of Sound. Screenshots of the passage had began circulating on Twitter after Wood and several other women accused Manson of abuse.

In a 2009 interview with MOJO Magazine, Reznor called Manson “a malicious guy and will step on anybody’s face to succeed and cross any line of decency. His drive for success and self-preservation was so high, he pretended to be fucked up a lot when he wasn’t.”

But in a 2017 interview, Manson claimed that he and Reznor had reconciled.

“We had sort of mended ways after a long time through [Manson collaborator and producer] Tyler Bates strangely enough,” Manson said at the time. “He goes and he said in the email something along the lines of, ‘It really pisses me off that music’s not dangerous anymore and it reminds me of how great you were and I was and the time, the era.'”

Following the accusations made by Wood — and others — Manson was dropped by his record label Loma Vista Recordings, as well as his talent agency Creative Artists Agency.

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