Marilyn Manson was sentenced to 20 hours of community service and fined by a court on Monday (Sept. 17) after pleading no contest to blowing his nose on a camerawoman at a 2019 concert in New Hampshire.
The controversial artist (real name: Brian Warner) was charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, relating to an incident with the videographer during a show at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford.
Manson had initially pleaded not guilty to the assault charges, but later changed his plea to no contest, the BBC reports, which means the goth-rocker was not contesting the charge but does not admit guilt.
The judge required Manson to appear in court, and described the incident in question as “egregious.” Manson was fined about $1,400, with $200 suspended, and will be allowed to complete his community service in California, as requested.
According to a police affidavit, the Associated Press reports, Manson approached videographer Susan Fountain in the stage pit, and spat a “big lougee” at her. Later, he is said to have returned, kneeling and covering one nostril before blowing the other on her arms and hands.
Manson “blows a significant amount of mucous at Fountain,” a police sergeant who reviewed concert video footage said in the report. The camera then captures Manson “point and laugh at Fountain as she gets down and walks away,” reads the affidavit.
Manson reportedly wore a black suit in court, and spoke twice to the judge: to acknowledge his name and to confirm “yes” when asked if he understood the sentence.
Fountain did not attend court, but prepared a statement. “For me, I’m a professional person and I’ve been in this industry for 30 years. I’ve worked for a lot of companies, and in all the years I’ve worked with people, I’ve never been humiliated or treated the way I was by this defendant,” it reads. “For him to spit on me and blow his nose on me was the most disgusting thing a human being has ever done.
“I understand this was not a big criminal charge to begin with, but I was hoping that the defendant would receive a sentence that would make him think twice before doing something like this again,” the statement continues.
Manson has been the subject of sexual assault and abuse allegations from multiple women, including Evan Rachel Wood, Esmé Bianco, Ashley Waters, Illma Gore and others. Despite those claims, which Manson has denied, the artist returned from a social media hiatus earlier this year to seemingly tease new music.
Manson has achieved 10 top 10 titles on the Billboard 200 chart, including No. 1s with 1998’s Mechanical Animals and 2013’s The Golden Age Of Grotesque.
See Billboard’s full timeline of Manson’s abuse allegations here.
