According to WMUR, Marilyn Manson appeared in a New Hampshire courtroom earlier today (Monday, September 18) to plead no contest to a misdemeanor simple assault charge related to an alleged incident with a videographer during a 2019 concert in New Hampshire.
Manson was charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault after a videographer accused the singer of spitting and blowing his nose on her at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion.
The second charge was dismissed with a negotiated plea deal, according to his attorney. A no contest plea means Manson did not contest the charge and did not admit guilt.
Manson will have to pay a fine of $1,200 and was sentenced to 20 hours of community service to be done within six months.
Manson allegedly approached the videographer, whose company was contracted by the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion for the concert season the first time, put his face close to the camera and spat a "big lougee" at her. She was struck on both hands with saliva. The shock rocker allegedly returned a second time, covering one side of his nostril and blowing in the videographer's direction.
Belknap County attorney Andrew Livernois said about the singer: "At one point [during the concert], he approached the camera, looked into the lens and spit at the camera and struck the camera operator with saliva. He approached the camera again, and this time, he expelled matter from his nose at the camera, striking the woman again this time."
In court, a victim's advocate read a victim-impact statement on behalf of the videographer.
"For me, I'm a professional person and I've been in this industry for 30 years," the statement read. "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 like I was by this defendant. 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."
Check out a video report from WMUR here.
Manson performed in Gilford, New Hampshire on August 19, 2019 as part of the co-headlining "Hell Never Dies" tour with Rob Zombie.
In a previous statement, Manson's attorney Howard King said: "It is no secret to anyone who has attended a Marilyn Manson concert that he likes to be provocative on stage, especially in front of a camera. This misdemeanor claim was pursued after we received a demand from a venue videographer for more than $35,000 after a small amount of spit came into contact with their arm. After we asked for evidence of any alleged damages, we never received a reply. This whole claim is ludicrous, but we remain committed to cooperating with authorities, as we have done throughout."
Seemingly contradicting King's statement, three concert attendees — including a security guard — told People that they saw Manson spit and "shoot his snot" at the camerawoman.
"He was spitting everywhere and one time it got on her camera so she wiped it off and looked semi-irritated. He noticed this and kept purposely spitting on her camera," one attendee told People. "I think her final straw is he got on the floor, got within 2-3 feet of her and hacked a giant snot rocket at her not the camera. She was pissed off and disgusted so she stormed off and he just laughed."
"I stopped listening to his music after that and told my husband I would never go to another one of his concerts again," she added.
A second attendee concurred, stating that he "bent down to shoot his snot all over this woman. I can remember him just laughing about what he did."
"I was right there when it happened, she was beyond furious when he did that to her," a third man, who works as a security guard at the venue, said. "He spit on her a couple of times and then leaned real close to the camera and blew a huge snot rocket on her. After he did that, she almost threw her camera right down on the ground."
Last year, Marilyn confirmed he was dropped by his record label, Loma Vista Recordings, and talent agency CAA after at least 15 women have accused the musician of sexual assault. Manson has denied all allegations, which he has called "horrible distortions of reality."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)