According to Rolling Stone (which purposefully posted a photo of Manson from the last decade looking defeated), Ashley Walters, who was Marilyn Manson's personal assistant from 2010 to 2012, and whose case against him was revived upon appeal in December 2023, is now set to get a trial against her former boss, with a jury trial set to begin June 2, 2025. Apparently there was an attempt to resolve the case through mediation in December 2023, but according to Walters’ lawyer, James Vagnini, the parties were “not successful at resolving the case.” “We are happy that the delays are behind us and that we will have an opportunity to depose Mr. Warner and present all the facts to a jury next year,” Walters’ lawyer James Vagnini said in a statement to Rolling Stone . “We are confident they will acknowledge the harm done to Ms. Walters and deliver a resounding message to all survivors of such terrible abuse.” There has been no comment as of yet from Manson's team, but he has denied &q
Jeff Anderson Partners With a Coalition of Women in Issuing a Report Against Accused Musicians and Executives in the Music Industry
On February 28th 2024 in Los Angeles, attorney Jeff Anderson, who is the current attorney in the case of Bianca Kyne vs. Brian Warner/Marilyn Manson, led a group of women at a press event, during which there was presented a report that reveals over 35 musicians accused of sexual misconduct and over 18 executives accused of sexual assault, misconduct, or cover-up of crimes. In this report are covered seven decades of sexual abuse and coverup, from the 1950s to the present, with Marilyn Manson having 16 pages of coverage.
This event was covered by Rolling Stone and The Washington Post, among other publications.
This event was covered by Rolling Stone and The Washington Post, among other publications.
This is the first stage of a coordinated campaign of a coalition of four women-led non-profits (The Representation Project, Lift Our Voices, The Punk Rock Therapist, Female Composer Safety League) that will launch a multi-month, aggressive advocacy campaign to hold the music industry accountable for sexual violence.
According to the press release, "survivors and allies will shed light on the pervasive culture of abuse and demand systemic change in the music industry by making five demands:
1. No more NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) that silence survivors.
2. Mandated policy protocols. If You See Something, Say Something.
3. An independent organization funded by MusiCares – The Make Music Industry Safe Division.
4. Publication of the names of artists and executives credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment.
5. Adopt a survivor bill of rights.
Some Thoughts
What is most problematic about this report is that it is full of defamation and slander. It assumes the guilt of everyone accused before a trial has taken place, and it goes so far back in time (seven decades) that some who are named in this report are deceased and cannot defend themselves. Essentially the purpose of this report is to give the cases and non-profits associated with Jeff Anderson a major and coordinated pr campaign under the guise of changing the culture of the music industry. Much of what is being proposed is yet unclear, but some things have been discussed before. For example, NDAs do not silence survivors nor do they apply in cases of sexual assault, and if one does sign an NDA after they have made an accusation then they have chosen to no longer discuss the matter, even if they come to regret their decision years later. Also, what does "credibly accused" mean and who will define what accusation is credible or not without a trial. Everything about this report and coalition is too rogue to be taken seriously if it is to be done outside the court of law, and in my opinion works more against women and real survivors than in their favor. The easy solution for a music corporation or anyone in the music industry is to just not hire women at all since they are too much of a liability risk. It seems they would rather it be only comprised of women.
What Is Said About Marilyn Manson
The Brian Warner/Marilyn Manson section of the report begins on page 124 and goes to page 140. The report focuses on the accusations brought forward by Bianca Allaine Kyne in her lawsuit, where she alleges that Manson was a pedophile. Cited in the allegations against Manson is a 1995 Purr interview, the 2000 documentary Demystifying the Devil, the 2021 Rolling Stone investigation, the December 6th 2021 issue of the Daily Mail reporting Evan Rachel Wood's custody case, the Ashley Walters complaint, the Esme Bianco complaint, the Lexa Vonn lawsuit and other more recent news reports of the various cases. The primary purpose of the allegations in the report is to show that Manson is a pedophile who threatens to silence his accusers. The rest of the report covers the public reckoning Manson has undergone since 2021 with various accusers coming forward and issuing lawsuits, and how Manson continued to profit from UMG’s Interscope Records despite being problematic until he was dropped in 2021, though he continues to profit himself and Interscope since his music is still available to stream.
Conclusion
This report, as much as it wants to be taken seriously, should not be taken seriously. It is a cleverly devised pr campaign for Jeff Anderson meant to market himself as the attorney who will change the culture of the music industry. He would like nothing more than to remove any trace of various artists which he deems to be "credibly" accused and destroy their careers and the careers of those associated with them. The report, as I said earlier, is filled with one slander after another, but he legally protects himself by issuing the following statement:
According to the press release, "survivors and allies will shed light on the pervasive culture of abuse and demand systemic change in the music industry by making five demands:
1. No more NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) that silence survivors.
2. Mandated policy protocols. If You See Something, Say Something.
3. An independent organization funded by MusiCares – The Make Music Industry Safe Division.
4. Publication of the names of artists and executives credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment.
5. Adopt a survivor bill of rights.
Some Thoughts
What is most problematic about this report is that it is full of defamation and slander. It assumes the guilt of everyone accused before a trial has taken place, and it goes so far back in time (seven decades) that some who are named in this report are deceased and cannot defend themselves. Essentially the purpose of this report is to give the cases and non-profits associated with Jeff Anderson a major and coordinated pr campaign under the guise of changing the culture of the music industry. Much of what is being proposed is yet unclear, but some things have been discussed before. For example, NDAs do not silence survivors nor do they apply in cases of sexual assault, and if one does sign an NDA after they have made an accusation then they have chosen to no longer discuss the matter, even if they come to regret their decision years later. Also, what does "credibly accused" mean and who will define what accusation is credible or not without a trial. Everything about this report and coalition is too rogue to be taken seriously if it is to be done outside the court of law, and in my opinion works more against women and real survivors than in their favor. The easy solution for a music corporation or anyone in the music industry is to just not hire women at all since they are too much of a liability risk. It seems they would rather it be only comprised of women.
What Is Said About Marilyn Manson
The Brian Warner/Marilyn Manson section of the report begins on page 124 and goes to page 140. The report focuses on the accusations brought forward by Bianca Allaine Kyne in her lawsuit, where she alleges that Manson was a pedophile. Cited in the allegations against Manson is a 1995 Purr interview, the 2000 documentary Demystifying the Devil, the 2021 Rolling Stone investigation, the December 6th 2021 issue of the Daily Mail reporting Evan Rachel Wood's custody case, the Ashley Walters complaint, the Esme Bianco complaint, the Lexa Vonn lawsuit and other more recent news reports of the various cases. The primary purpose of the allegations in the report is to show that Manson is a pedophile who threatens to silence his accusers. The rest of the report covers the public reckoning Manson has undergone since 2021 with various accusers coming forward and issuing lawsuits, and how Manson continued to profit from UMG’s Interscope Records despite being problematic until he was dropped in 2021, though he continues to profit himself and Interscope since his music is still available to stream.
Conclusion
This report, as much as it wants to be taken seriously, should not be taken seriously. It is a cleverly devised pr campaign for Jeff Anderson meant to market himself as the attorney who will change the culture of the music industry. He would like nothing more than to remove any trace of various artists which he deems to be "credibly" accused and destroy their careers and the careers of those associated with them. The report, as I said earlier, is filled with one slander after another, but he legally protects himself by issuing the following statement:
With this statement, which is basically his own version of an NDA meant to protect his free speech, he is basically telling us to not take this report too seriously, because "all individuals should be considered innocent until proven guilty." Few in this report, as far as I can tell after a quick glance, have been proven guilty, therefore they are innocent until they are, despite what this report claims and what it desires to do. The only thing this report does is show to what lengths a sleazy lawyer like Jeff Anderson will go to make a name for himself at the expense of real survivors seeking real justice.
Below is the press event from February 28th, and below that is a local interview with Samantha Maloney, who is one of the leading coalition members of this movement, known to Manson supporters for issuing a statement defending her friend Jessicka Addams against Jeordie White and even Marilyn Manson: