On Thursday night, MAGA maestro Kanye West threw caution and morality to the wind during his DONDA “listening party” at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
In addition to erecting a replica of his childhood home—it is a hometown show, after all, and the album is named after his late mother Donda West—West, masked and dressed in all black, decided to bring out Marilyn Manson and DaBaby during the performance art piece.
The three posed together on the stoop of the home, underneath a giant cross, as “Hurricane”—a song from the album featuring DaBaby and The Weeknd—blared over the loudspeakers, along with the track “Jail.”
The bizarre show also featured West lighting himself on fire and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian West, emerging in a wedding dress.
West’s decision to welcome Manson and DaBaby onstage during his performance—effectively co-signing them—will undoubtedly spark backlash. A number of women, including actress Evan Rachel Wood and Game of Thrones star Esme Blanco, have come forward to accuse Manson of sexual assault and/or abuse. In February this year, Wood, who was once engaged to Manson, wrote on Instagram:
<p><i>The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. 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.</i></p>
Wood further accused Manson of regularly spewing racist and anti-Semitic slurs:
In a civil suit filed against Manson—one of four he is facing over his alleged abuse—Blanco “alleges she was given drugs and alcohol and subjected to threats of violence and rape, and according to the docs... was tied to a prayer kneeler and beaten by Manson with a whip he told her was utilized by the Nazis. She claims Manson also electrocuted her,” reported TMZ. (Manson has denied all the allegations against him.)
After Wood, Blanco, and others came forward, Manson was dropped by his record label, talent agency, manager, and cut from the shows American Gods and Creepshow. The LAPD later confirmed that Manson was under investigation in Los Angeles.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Special Victims Bureau is investigating allegation(s) of domestic violence involving Mr. Brian Warner also known as ‘Marilyn Manson,’ who works in the music industry,” they said in a statement. “The incidents occurred between 2009 and 2011 when Mr. Warner lived in the city of West Hollywood.”
As for DaBaby, he’s been dropped from a number of music festivals—including Lollapalooza and GovBall—after making vile, homophobic comments during Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival on July 25, and also having Tory Lanez perform onstage with him even though Megan Thee Stallion, who Lanez allegedly shot twice, was at the festival. (Lanez’s bail was subsequently increased for violating his restraining order against Megan.)
Onstage, DaBaby announced, “[If] you didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put a cellphone light in the air. Ladies, if your pussy smell like water, put a cellphone light in the air. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put a cellphone light in the air.”
DaBaby initially issued a non-apology, then apologized, then deleted the apology from his Instagram. During a recent performance at Hot 97’s Summer Jam, he called his critics “crybabies.”
So, all of this this doesn’t reflect well on West. Then again, he did fervidly support Trump, who’s been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 26 women.
