Marilyn Manson makes appearance at Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Chicago playback event


Kanye West brought out Marilyn Manson at his ‘Donda’ album playback event currently taking place in Chicago.

The event, which at time of publication is ongoing at Chicago’s Soldier Field, is currently being streamed on Apple Music.

Manson appeared on the stoop of a church-like structure West built in the centre of the stadium. When photos of the construction of the structure circulated online before the event, many noted its resemblance to West’s childhood home.

Marilyn Manson appears at Kanye West Donda Chicago album playback event
Marilyn Manson at the Kanye West ‘Donda’ album playback event in Chicago. Credit: Screenshot of Apple Music livestream

Manson, along with a masked figure many online thought to be DaBaby, walked out onto the porch alongside West as the first song of the event, rumoured to be titled ‘Jail’, began to play.

DaBaby delivers a guest verse on the song in question, which seems to be a different version from one that was played at West’s two previous listening parties for the album, which featured Jay-Z. It is unclear if Manson has any involvement with ‘Donda’ at this time.

Marilyn Manson appears at Kanye West Donda Chicago album playback event
Marilyn Manson at the Kanye West ‘Donda’ album playback event in Chicago. Credit: Screenshot of Apple Music livestream

Manson has been accused of sexual assault and abuse by multiple women since his former partner Evan Rachel Wood, and other women, publicly made allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct against him in February. Manson has consistently denied the allegations, calling them “horrible distortions of reality”. He was dropped from his label Loma Vista shortly after.

Since then, it’s been reported that Manson is facing four different sexual assault lawsuits, the latest one filed by model Ashley Morgan Smithline last month.

The latest development came last month, as Manson dismissed allegations of sexual assault and abuse made by actress Esme Blanco, who filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles. He labelled the allegations as “untrue, meritless” and part of a “coordinated attack by multiple plaintiffs”.

The ‘Donda’ listening event is the third of its kind to take place in the past few weeks, with one taking place in late July and the other earlier this month – both in Atlanta.

‘Donda’ was expected to drop after the first listening party, and again after the second, though it never materialised. Kanye West’s manager, Bu Thiam, recently said that the album would drop at some point following the conclusion of the Chicago event, though no release date has been given.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.