Marilyn Manson Prays With Kanye West + Justin Bieber at Rapper’s Sunday Service
Marilyn Manson spent his Halloween getting pious with Kanye West, the rapper who recently changed his legal name to just Ye, at the hip-hop star's latest Sunday Service performance with his gospel group, the Sunday Service Choir.
The concert, which also counted singer Justin Bieber and rapper Roddy Ricch among its superstar guests, aired as a surprise livestream on Sunday (Oct. 31), as Yahoo! reported. It's one of the few public appearances Manson has made since February, when multiple allegations of sexual and other kinds of abuse started coming out against the rock singer.
See photos and video showing Manson at the Sunday Service performance — the rocker draped in a large white robe and face-covering — down toward the bottom of this post.
The event involved Manson and Ye praying together at one point, with a Twitter user remarking, "Kanye bringing Marilyn Manson to Sunday Service and praying over him is amazing!! There's no one that is too far gone for Jesus to save."
In August, Manson unexpectedly joined Ye onstage at the rapper's listening event for his new album Donda, which features Manson's voice on "Jail, Pt. 2." The track finds Manson doubling West's refrain on lines such as "We all liars" and "Guess who's goin' to jail tonight?"
The listening party at Chicago's Soldier Field also featured the rapper DaBaby, who had come under fire for making homophobic comments. That led many to believe that Ye, who has faced his own share of controversies, was attempting to make a statement or rehabilitate the images of Manson and DaBaby.
The Halloween concert was Ye's first Sunday Service performance in over 18 months, according to Rolling Stone. The rapper first formed the Sunday Service Choir and started staging the religious-themed showcases around the time of his 2019 album, Jesus Is King.
Manson's latest album, the Shooter Jennings-produced We Are Chaos, arrived last year. But he was dropped by his record label and agent after the abuse allegations against him emerged. Actress Evan Rachel Wood, a former fiancée of Manson's, led the public charge against him, joining at least four other women in alleging the musician was their abuser. Others followed with more accusations.
Manson refuted them in a statement. He said, "Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how … others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth."
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, resources are available to help. Please visit RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) online or dial 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673).