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Marilyn Manson Files Lawsuit Against Evan Rachel Wood For Defamation

by · Stereogum

Marilyn Manson has sued Evan Rachel Wood for defamation, as Deadline reports. In a complaint filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday morning, Manson claims that Wood committed “wrongful and illegal acts done in furtherance of a conspiracy” to “publicly cast” Manson (birth name Brian Warner) “as a rapist and abuser—a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV, and film career.” Illma Gore, described in the suit as Wood’s “on-again, off-again romantic partner,” is also named as a defendant.

The lawsuit claims that Wood and Gore “created a fictitious email account to manufacture purported evidence that Warner was emailing illicit pornography” and that they “impersonated an actual agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by forging and distributing a fictitious letter from the agent, to create the false appearance that Warner’s alleged “victims” and their families were in danger, and that there was a federal criminal investigation of Warner ongoing.”

The suit also alleges that Wood and Gore “provided checklists and scripts to prospective accusers, listing the specific alleged acts of abuse that they should claim against Warner” and that they “made knowingly false statement to prospective accusers which have since been repeated by those accusers in court filings), including the defamatory claim that Warner filmed the sexual assault of a minor.”

Last year, Wood publicly accused Manson of grooming and abuse, after previously alluding to her experience with Manson in a widely-shared testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in 2018. Since Wood came forward, multiple people have accused Manson of sexual assault and battery.

Later this month, Phoenix Rising — a two-part documentary about Wood and her abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson — will air on HBO following a partial premiere at Sundance in January. In the documentary, Wood said that Manson raped her during a music video shoot in 2007.

In a statement to Deadline, Marilyn Manson’s main attorney Howard King said: “We’re filing this now because we have been able to gather an overwhelming trove of evidence – including both documents and witness statements – which proves that the stories that Evan Rachel Wood and her co-conspirator Illma Gore have been falsifying and spreading are both vindictive and demonstrably untrue.”

The suit is seeking unspecified damages and “an order enjoining Wood and Gore from engaging in further wrongful conduct toward Warner,” as well as a jury trial. The documentary Phoenix Rising documentary debuts on HBO on March 15 and 16.

If you or someone you know is suffering from sexual violence, please contact RAINN or call the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.