Last summer, at a listening event for his album Donda, Kanye West appeared on stage joined by Marilyn Manson, who contributed vocals to the record. At the time, Manson’s history was already under plenty of scrutiny, as a number of women — Evan Rachel Wood among them — had accused Manson of abuse over the years. In the months since then, even more horrific accounts of Manson’s behavior have been reported. You might think that this would be enough to make anyone back away from working with Manson.
Sadly, this is not something Kanye West agrees with.
On Monday afternoon, Rolling Stone published an article whose headline spoke volumes: “Accused Rapist Marilyn Manson Working With Kanye West ‘Every Day’ on New Album,” it read. Manson isn’t the only troubling musician associated with the project: Chris Brown had contributed a verse to Donda, but it was subsequently removed.
Digital Nas, a producer working on the second volume of Donda, told Rolling Stone that Manson has been a regular presence in the studio. “Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2,” Digital Nas told Rolling Stone.
The producer went on to speculate that West’s interest in working with Manson stems from West’s Christianity. “I’m just assuming it is from a standpoint of like, ‘We’re all sinners. We all make mistakes. We shouldn’t point the finger at someone for the mistakes they’ve made or something like that,’” Digital Nas added.
There is a difference, though, between personal forgiveness and a high-profile professional collaboration. If this really is meant to be West offering some kind of bizarre moral lesson, it’s not a convincing one.
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