Tony Ciulla, who managed Marilyn Manson for the past 25 years, has dropped the shock rocker as a client. The move comes after several women, including actress and Manson’s ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood, accused Manson of sexual and physical abuse.
Ciulla started managing Manson in 1996, the same year the artist put out his mainstream breakthrough, Antichrist Superstar. He stood by the singer, whose real name is Brian Warner, through multiple controversies — including criticism that followed the musician after the Columbine shooting — and myriad lawsuits. Manson has been subject to suits by both former band members over royalty disputes and alleged assaults on security personnel at concerts.
But Ciulla’s stance changed this week after Wood named Manson as the previously anonymous abuser she referenced while testifying before the California Senate in relation to the state’s Phoenix Act, which extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence from three years to five. (Ciulla declined to comment.)
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” Wood wrote on Instagram Monday. “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. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.” Four other women came forward with similar stories in an article for Vanity Fair.
The fallout has been far and wide for Manson. Loma Vista, the label that released his most recent albums, severed ties with him, alongside his booking agent, CAA. After excerpts from Manson’s 1998 autobiography, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, surfaced online and implicated Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor as a fellow abuser, Reznor also reiterated his disdain for Manson. “I have been vocal over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and cut ties with him nearly 25 years ago,” Reznor said. “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.”
Manson issued a statement earlier this week denying the allegations against him. “Obviously, my art and life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality,” he said. “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.”