Billy Corgan defended his decision to remain friends with Marilyn Manson after the rocker was accused of sexual abuse, noting that he “didn’t feel he was guilty” of the alleged crimes.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman addressed his friendship with the controversial rock star (whose real name is Brian Warner) during an appearance on the New York Times’ “Popcast” podcast, where he said it was important to him as a Christian to “stand by your friends.”
“As a Christian person, you have to stand by your friends, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and that doesn’t mean you’re not critical,” he said. “I’m not here to adjudicate it. But, you know, the DA looked at the case for five years … I knew personal things behind the scenes that are not in the public sphere.”
He added: “I personally didn’t feel that he was guilty of the things he was being charged with and ultimately the fact that the DA didn’t pursue [it]. So, basically, the person that I knew and the way it all kind of went down, even though it was an elongated process, was commensurate with the person that I knew.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Corgan noted that he didn’t feel the public had a right to dictate his friendships.
“I don’t want the world to tell me who my friends are and who I should associate with,” he said. “That’s politically or socially. In Brian’s case, we have a relationship that goes back close to 30 years.”
Corgan then highlighted that Manson’s wife, Lindsay Usich, has family ties to his band, The Smashing Pumpkins.
“The other thing that people should know, and it may gets lost in the gloss here, is Manson’s wife Lindsay is a twin,” he explained. “And her twin is Ashley and Ashley’s married to James Iha of the Pumpkins. So Manson’s basically a part of our family, right? It goes deep.”
Manson has been publicly accused of sexual, physical and emotional abuse from over a dozen women, including ex Evan Rachel Wood, who accused the rocker of “horrifically” abusing her in a statement released in 2021. Manson denied the allegations, later suing Wood for defamation. The suit was dropped in 2024, but he was ordered to pay Wood’s legal fees.
However, the Los Angeles County District Attorney later decided in 2025 not to pursue charges against Manson, citing insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations. Similarly, in 2018, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office chose not to prosecute sexual assault cases brought against Manson, citing the statute of limitations as a reason.
