Marilyn Manson pleads not guilty to New Hampshire assault charges

Marilyn Manson has pleaded not guilty to charges of simple assault stemming from an incident at a New Hampshire music venue.

ABC affiliate WMUR reports that the musician’s lawyer entered the plea Wednesday to Laconia District Court.

This past May, the Gilford Police Department in New Hampshire announced that it had issued an arrest warrant for Manson, born Brian Warner, on two counts of Class A misdemeanor Simple Assault. Warner had been accused of purposefully spitting on a videographer who was filming him during a 2019 Marylin Manson concert at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion.

While Warner’s lawyer told Pitchfork that the claim was “ludicrous,” the rocker agreed to turn himself in over the charges to the Los Angeles Police Department, as part of an agreement with the Gilford PD. Warner posted bail in July.

News of the New Hampshire charges came as Warner’s been embroiled in accusations of abuse and sexual assault, which began in February after his ex-fiancée, Evan Rachel Wood, alleged that he “horrifically abused [her] for years.” Warner denied those claims as “horrible distortions of reality.”

Numerous women have since followed with their own allegations, including actor Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline and Warner’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, all of whom filed lawsuits against him.