The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published an interview with Pittsburgh native Reba Meyers on September 17th 2025, ahead of Marilyn Manson's show in The Steel City on September 20th. In this interview Reba dives deeper than ever before about what its like being not only the newest but also the youngest current member of Marilyn Manson. She even talks about the Manson controversies that have been the focus of people's attention for the past five years, but instead of focusing on the controversies, she says the actual story is much more interesting and deserves to be more noticed: "The actual story of what’s happening is more interesting than the controversy by far. We have a lot more to teach people about with that. It’s like the real story is not even being noticed by most people, which is sad." For Reba, the actual story is a story of redemption: "But for me it’s about redemption, and I’ve seen that with the crowd, and the more important part to me is how people ...
The Evolution of a Fake "Controversy" Over Marilyn Manson's Appearance at Black Sabbath's Farewell Concert
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According to the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail, when Marilyn Manson gave a 30 second video message tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning farewell concert on Saturday July 5th, it "sparked controversy."
Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne have been friends for many years, they have toured together a number of times and made multiple appearances together. In fact, before the pandemic struck in 2019, Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath were planning a tour together, which unfortunately had to be canceled due to the pandemic. And when accusations came against Manson in 2021, the Osbourne family supported him. It should have been no surprise therefore that Manson would have been invited to participate in the farewell concert, and though he was unable to schedule a live appearance, he sent a quick video message expressing his gratitude to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, as did other musicians who were unable to attend.
According to the Daily Mail however, Black Sabbath fans were "unimpressed" by Manson's appearance, which they ascribe to the fact that the first show of his U.K. tour this fall in Brighton was canceled due to backlash from Council members and a male feminist group. To prove their point they cited the following five posts on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne have been friends for many years, they have toured together a number of times and made multiple appearances together. In fact, before the pandemic struck in 2019, Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath were planning a tour together, which unfortunately had to be canceled due to the pandemic. And when accusations came against Manson in 2021, the Osbourne family supported him. It should have been no surprise therefore that Manson would have been invited to participate in the farewell concert, and though he was unable to schedule a live appearance, he sent a quick video message expressing his gratitude to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, as did other musicians who were unable to attend.
According to the Daily Mail however, Black Sabbath fans were "unimpressed" by Manson's appearance, which they ascribe to the fact that the first show of his U.K. tour this fall in Brighton was canceled due to backlash from Council members and a male feminist group. To prove their point they cited the following five posts on X, formerly known as Twitter:
However, when you look up these five accounts who complained about Manson, not only were they men (who perhaps belong to the male feminist activist group that are complaining about Manson's U.K. tour), but they hardly have any followers, and there is absolutely no engagement with their posts as far as likes, shares and comments; furthermore, these five posts from the five accounts seem to have no knowledge of the long history between Manson and Ozzy. The media wants you to think these five posts went viral, when in fact they got 0 to 3 likes at most many hours after being posted.
In other words, when the Daily Mail implies that five people complaining is enough to define a "sparked controversy", even though the complaints didn't go beyond the five posts on X, then the Daily Mail must think these five complaints gave them license to create a controversy that really never existed until they decided to make it a controversy. If you can "spark controversy" with just five negative social media comments with no engagement, then "sparking controversy" would be a dime a dozen.
So from five posts on X with no engagement to an article in the Daily Mail, the British tabloid created a fake controversy that was then picked up by The Independent. The Independent pretty much copied what the Daily Mail said, but whereas the Daily Mail says "some fans" complained about Manson, The Independent changes it to "a number of fans", even though they only quote the same five posts on X that the Daily Mail does. Of course, "a number of fans" can be five, but it is still misleading.
When the American media picked up on the story in dozens of publications, many began to sensationalize the story further which can be seen in their titles which quote the X posts:
NME titled their article: Black Sabbath fans hit back at Marilyn Manson appearance at final gig: “Fuck that guy”
Billboard titled their article: Fans Hit Out At ‘Piece of S–t’ Marilyn Manson After Disgraced Rocker’s Video Tribute During Final Black Sabbath Show
Entertainment Weekly titled their article: Marilyn Manson's Ozzy Osbourne tribute sparks backlash: 'Piece of s---'
Metro U.K. titled their article: Black Sabbath final show sparks backlash after ‘scumbag’ musician’s appearance
In American media sources, the story evolved to falsely inflate the five X accounts by calling them "several", which could be five but is still misleading. You can even see these reporters now liking these five posts on X to make it look like they have engagement, as evidenced by their photos showing the heart red under the posts indicating they liked it before copying and posting it. Billboard went so far as to fabricate the following:
"According to British media reports, some fans at the show booed during the video or turned their backs on Manson’s video... It did not appear as if Manson... was invited to participate in Saturday’s show."
First of all, no British reports said Black Sabbath fans in attendance booed during the video or turned their backs on Manson's video. This is completely made up by Billboard and there is no evidence that this happened. In fact, multiple videos online of Manson's 30 second tribute in the venue suggest no negative reactions, rather he gets applause and some cheers when his video ends (at this time there is no video online which shows the beginning of his tribute at the venue). Multiple online comments from people in attendance have confirmed there was no noticeable booing directed at Manson when he came on, and in fact the tribute was so quick and unexpected that people hardly had any time to react, and those that did reacted very positively. Billboard seems to have confused Marilyn Manson with Disturbed's David Draiman, who actually did get booed and received negative reactions for his performance. However, the fact that Billboard speculates Manson may have not been invited to send his video message is completely ridiculous, which makes me think their confusion of Manson with Draiman was not a confusion but intentional. Of course Manson was invited, as were all those who sent in video tributes and there is no reason to suggest otherwise.
Daily Express U.S. went so far as to report that Black Sabbath received "major backlash" from fans for inviting Marilyn Manson, but when you look at the evidence they provide, all they show are the same 4 or 5 posts on X with no engagement.
Other media reports basically repeat what is reported above without doing any fact checking.
In other words, when the Daily Mail implies that five people complaining is enough to define a "sparked controversy", even though the complaints didn't go beyond the five posts on X, then the Daily Mail must think these five complaints gave them license to create a controversy that really never existed until they decided to make it a controversy. If you can "spark controversy" with just five negative social media comments with no engagement, then "sparking controversy" would be a dime a dozen.
So from five posts on X with no engagement to an article in the Daily Mail, the British tabloid created a fake controversy that was then picked up by The Independent. The Independent pretty much copied what the Daily Mail said, but whereas the Daily Mail says "some fans" complained about Manson, The Independent changes it to "a number of fans", even though they only quote the same five posts on X that the Daily Mail does. Of course, "a number of fans" can be five, but it is still misleading.
When the American media picked up on the story in dozens of publications, many began to sensationalize the story further which can be seen in their titles which quote the X posts:
NME titled their article: Black Sabbath fans hit back at Marilyn Manson appearance at final gig: “Fuck that guy”
Billboard titled their article: Fans Hit Out At ‘Piece of S–t’ Marilyn Manson After Disgraced Rocker’s Video Tribute During Final Black Sabbath Show
Entertainment Weekly titled their article: Marilyn Manson's Ozzy Osbourne tribute sparks backlash: 'Piece of s---'
Metro U.K. titled their article: Black Sabbath final show sparks backlash after ‘scumbag’ musician’s appearance
In American media sources, the story evolved to falsely inflate the five X accounts by calling them "several", which could be five but is still misleading. You can even see these reporters now liking these five posts on X to make it look like they have engagement, as evidenced by their photos showing the heart red under the posts indicating they liked it before copying and posting it. Billboard went so far as to fabricate the following:
"According to British media reports, some fans at the show booed during the video or turned their backs on Manson’s video... It did not appear as if Manson... was invited to participate in Saturday’s show."
First of all, no British reports said Black Sabbath fans in attendance booed during the video or turned their backs on Manson's video. This is completely made up by Billboard and there is no evidence that this happened. In fact, multiple videos online of Manson's 30 second tribute in the venue suggest no negative reactions, rather he gets applause and some cheers when his video ends (at this time there is no video online which shows the beginning of his tribute at the venue). Multiple online comments from people in attendance have confirmed there was no noticeable booing directed at Manson when he came on, and in fact the tribute was so quick and unexpected that people hardly had any time to react, and those that did reacted very positively. Billboard seems to have confused Marilyn Manson with Disturbed's David Draiman, who actually did get booed and received negative reactions for his performance. However, the fact that Billboard speculates Manson may have not been invited to send his video message is completely ridiculous, which makes me think their confusion of Manson with Draiman was not a confusion but intentional. Of course Manson was invited, as were all those who sent in video tributes and there is no reason to suggest otherwise.
Daily Express U.S. went so far as to report that Black Sabbath received "major backlash" from fans for inviting Marilyn Manson, but when you look at the evidence they provide, all they show are the same 4 or 5 posts on X with no engagement.
Other media reports basically repeat what is reported above without doing any fact checking.
We should note there are reliable reports that Manson's tribute only appeared during the livestream to those at home, but it was removed when people went to rewatch it. By who it was removed and for what reason, we don't know. It appears the livestream was only available for about 24 hours after the event, so the whole concert is now unavailable. Despite this, many people have posted Manson's video online - much more than the five X posts that criticized him.
Under one of the online videos of Manson's tribute, Ozzy Osbourne himself made the following comment to deescalate the media created controversy and remind people what the event was about:
In conclusion, the Daily Mail completely exploited five negative social media comments to create a non-existent controversy about Marilyn Manson, and as other media picked up on the same story, they added more sensationalist details that have proven to be completely fabricated. The fact of the matter is that Marilyn Manson made a beautiful and heartfelt tribute to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne in particular where he cites them as a major influence and inspiration in his career. Below you can see and read the entire tribute which was not and should not be controversial at all.
"Hello, everyone! This is Marilyn Manson. Welcome to the celebration of Black Sabbath. When I was a kid growing up in Christian school, they told me, expressly, do not listen to Black Sabbath or I would go to hell. Of course, that’s the first thing that I did. I didn’t think I would grow up later to end up sharing a stage with Ozzy and Black Sabbath or become friends with Ozzy. So it is a great honor to be here via this video, and I’d like to say congratulations, and I love you very much Ozzy."
@metalspeck Marilyn Manson and Jonathan Davis video tributes to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. #backtothebeginning #metal #blacksabbath #ozzyosbourne #marilynmanson #korn ♬ original sound - Brandon Speck