Warrant issued for Marilyn Manson's arrest in connection with 2019 assault
Marilyn Manson’s a wanted man in New Hampshire. The artist, birth name Brian Hugh Warner, has an active warrant issued by Gilford police for two counts of “class A misdemeanor simple assault” against a photographer at a show in 2019.
The photographer, alleges that the singer spit on her and at one point launched a “snot rocket” at her and her camera. While these claims have been supported by other attendees and a security guard, police wrote in a Facebook post that an “arrest warrant is not a presumption of guilt.” They also say that Warner’s team have been aware of the charges for some time, and “no effort has been made by him to return to New Hampshire to answer the pending charges.”
“It is no secret to anyone who has attended a Marilyn Manson concert that he likes to be provocative on stage, especially in front of a camera,” Warner’s attorney Howard King says in a statement to PEOPLE. “This misdemeanor claim was pursued after we received a demand from a venue videographer for more than $35,000 after a small amount of spit came into contact with their arm. After we asked for evidence of any alleged damages, we never received a reply.”
The misdemeanor charges, if found guilty, carry a possible jail sentence of less than one year and a fine of $2,000 or less.
This charge carries no connection to the ongoing sexual abuse allegations against Warner, and Gilford police made it clear that the 2019 assaults “are not sexual in nature.” Earlier this month in an interview with PEOPLE, model Ashley Smithline said that Warner sexually assaulted her numerous times and violently abused her over the course of two years.
Another former partner, Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco, is currently suing the musician for rape and sexual battery, and accusing his former manger of human trafficking. Warner is also being sued by his former assistant, Ashley Walters, who detailed sexual assault, professional sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse she endured while working for him in an interview with The Cut. Ex-fiancee Evan Rachel Wood came forward in February, naming Warner as the previously unspecified partner that abused her. In 2019, the actress testified in California under the Phoenix Act to extend her statute of limitations. Among the many allegations levied against him, Wood also said Warner “started grooming [her] when [she] was a teenager and horrifically abused [her] for years.”
Warner has been dropped by his label Loma Vista and his upcoming shows have been cancelled, but he attests that the allegations are “horrible distortions of reality” and described his relationships as “entirely consensual with like-minded partners.”