Photo Credit: Rama / CC by 2.0
The first show of Marilyn Manson’s UK tour has been cancelled after pressure from an online campaign group, No Stage for Abusers.
Marilyn Manson was set to kick off the UK leg of his One Assassination Under God Tour in Brighton on October 29. But Ticketmaster has since informed ticketholders that the event will not go on as planned, and they will be refunded.
The cancellation comes at the urging of No Stage for Abusers, an online campaign group, alongside Green Party MP Siân Berry. Berry expressed her concerns about the upcoming performance in her constituency in an open letter to the Brighton Centre, as well as Brighton and Hove City Council, which owns the venue.
Concerns about Manson’s performance stem from four women having sued the shock rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner, accusing him of rape, sexual assault, and other bodily harm. However, after prosecutors in California found that the statute of limitations had been exceeded, following a year-long investigation, the case against him was dropped in January.
Berry’s letter, which was co-signed by numerous groups and the University of Sussex students’ union, said the event went against “the city’s well-renowned values.”
“Many survivors in Brighton and Hove, and organizations supporting them, will have serious concerns about this booking and its wider impact on other people visiting the city centre, local residents, and the wider community,” Berry wrote. “The council has a responsibility to take action where there are risks of discrimination, harassment, and victimization.”
Those opposed to the move point out that Warner has not been found guilty of the allegations against him. Others say the decision is nothing more than “cancel culture.”
“It’ll backfire when artists don’t add a Brighton and Hove date to their tours and stick to London, which incidentally hasn’t banned Marilyn Manson from their city,” one supporter of Warner, singer Marc Massive, told Brighton’s The Argus.
“As a musician, it’s a very dark day for Brighton’s live music scene when an MP […] can be hoodwinked into demanding that Brighton and Hove Council cancel a visiting international artist, by what amounts to an email writing, smear campaign from a Facebook group with only 195 followers,” said Massive.
“Thousands of visitors have lost money on hotels and accommodation because of [No Stage for Abusers’] actions, not to mention a huge live venue in the city lying empty and a loss of revenue from visitors,” Massive continued. “It’s extremely damaging and it wouldn’t surprise me if this action has cost Brighton future stop-offs on other artists’ tours, preferring to head straight to London, at a time when the live music scene is on its knees already.”
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