Billy Corgan Defends Friendship with Marilyn Manson: “I Personally Didn’t Feel That He Was Guilty”

Billy Corgan addressed his friendship with the embattled Marilyn Manson during an appearance on the New York Times podcast Popcast. Corgan and Manson attended each other’s birthday parties the past couple of years, leading Popcast co-host Jon Caramanica to ask Corgan about maintaining a friendship with the shock rocker in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations against him in recent years. Get Smashing Pumpkins Tickets Here The Smashing Pumpkins frontman pointed to both public developments in the legal cases against Manson, as well as his own personal knowledge of the situation. “I think that ultimately, as a Christian person… you have to stand by your friends,” began Corgan, “but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and that doesn’t mean you’re not critical. In his case, and I’m not here to adjudicate it, but the DA looked at the case for five years. In some cases, I knew personal things behind the scenes that are not in the public sphere. 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.” He continued, “So, basically, the person that I knew and the way it all kind of went down,...