Phoebe Bridgers says Marilyn Manson has a ‘rape room’

Last week, five women made disturbing charges against Marilyn Manson, saying he subjected them to psychological, emotional and sexual abuse. First came actress Evan Rachel Wood, who, on Monday, accused the musician of taking care of her when she was a teenager and of abusing her “terribly”. Her bravery inspired others to tell equally horrifying stories: A woman claimed that Manson would tie her up, rape her and take pleasure in her pain; another said that the singer locked her in rooms when she was “bad” and scolded her for “hours and hours”.

Amid the allegations, indie rock musician Phoebe Bridgers, 26, decided to share a bleak experience she says she had with Manson. When she was a teenager, she was a “big fan” of Manson, as she wrote on Twitter, and once went to his house with some friends. While there, “he referred to a room in his home as the ‘r * pe room’.” At the time, Bridgers says, she wrote the comment as a “horrible frat boy” joke, but still, “I stopped being a fan.” With a line break, she emphasized: “I am with everyone who performed.”

As the allegations started to escalate, Manson energetically denied them as “horrible distortions of reality.” Even so, the repercussions were quick. On the same day that the women performed, Manson’s label, Loma Vista Recordings, abandoned him. The next day, his longtime reservations agent, CAA – who also represents Wood – did the same. These decisions are ostensibly commendable, although Bridgers takes a different view.

“The record company knew, the administration knew, the band knew,” she wrote in a tweet that followed. “Going away now, pretending to be shocked and horrified is fucking pathetic.”