Marilyn Manson is one of the most controversial names in Hollywood right now due to a slew of allegations against him involving sexual misconduct and abuse. As of now, the star hasn’t been convicted of any crimes, but the rumors were enough to get Manson (whose real name is Brian Warner) dropped from his record label and agent.
But rapper Kanye West (who changed his name to Ye) isn’t one to shy away from some bad press. According to a new report from Rolling Stone, Manson is going to feature on Ye’s highly anticipated new album, Donda 2, and the duo have been working on it daily for a while now.
Rolling Stone reported that producer Digital Nas told them how often West and Manson were getting together in recent weeks. “I see Marilyn a lot in the studio,” Digital Nas told the publication. “Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2.“
“He doesn’t want Marilyn to play rap beats,” he continued. “He wants Marilyn to play what he makes, and then Ye will take parts of that and sample parts of that and use parts of that, like he did [generally when making] Yeezus. … He has some producers from Yeezus working on Donda 2 this time around, [as well as] Marilyn, me, a bunch of producers from Donda 1.”
This isn’t too surprising considering Ye and Manson’s history. According to Rolling Stone, Manson appeared at West’s Donda launch event last August and is credited as a songwriter on Donda. The rocker even attended one of West’s religious-themed Sunday Services.
Manson stands accused of abuse by multiple women, with former fiancee Evan Rachel Wood leading the charge. Wood said Manson, “essentially raped” her during a music video shoot, plus, “horrifically abused” her for years starting with grooming her as a teenager. “I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission,” she said on social media. Her testimony inspired other women to come forward with similar claims against Manson. The rocker denied Wood’s allegations plus all others.
Ye allegedly had a reason for teaming up with Manson, who he claims deserves another chance.
“When I sit next to Marilyn Manson and DaBaby right after both of them got canceled, for five songs, you know, it’s like they can’t cancel us all,” West said on an episode of Drink Champs. “[Somebody will] hit you with the accusations of somebody who you was with 10 years ago. And also, there’s women who’ve been through really serious things, pulled in alleys against their will — that’s different than a hug, but it’s classified as the same thing.”
Most recently Manson and West were photographed together at a private screening of Zola. Digital Nas claims West and Manson have “a crazy dynamic.”
“I would have never, ever thought that would happen, but it happened,” he told Rolling Stone of their partnership.
Donda 2 is scheduled to be released on February 22, but after the extended delays that happened with Donda 1, fans are expecting that the album won’t actually drop that day. The extent of Manson’s involvement in the project will become more clear at that point.