Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch has spoken out about the abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson.

Manson has been accused of sexual abuse, grooming and manipulation by actor Evan Rachel Wood and several other women. He has denied all the claims made against him, saying his “intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners”.

Speaking to NME, Welch spoke of watching Wood speak to US Congress in 2018 about surviving sexual assault during a session related to the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Acts. She did not name Manson as her alleged abuser at the time.

“She had real pain when she talked about it,” Welch said. “That is some real trauma that she had.”

He went on to reference Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland’s comments about Wood and the allegations, saying: “Hearing Wes Borland talk about that and how he saw some crazy things when Evan and Manson were together, that’s crazy. I feel for her because I see true pain in her voice when she speaks and I just hope that, if it’s true, Manson can own up to it and get help.”
Watch our interview with Welch below

Welch continued to discuss his own experiences with being abusive towards a partner. “I’m very vocal about how I screwed up,” he said. “I was in an abusive relationship, I wrote all about it in my book so owning up to your stuff and dating your demons and becoming a better person – even Marilyn Manson can do that.

“People say he’s evil or whatnot, and I like how Wes Borland ended his conversation where he said there’s obviously a massively cancel culture out there, but there is redemption for people that do horrible things. If Manson did some of this stuff, he just needs to get help like everybody else and I wish the best for him and Evan Rachel Wood and I hope that the world grows from this and becomes a better place.”

A former personal assistant of Manson’s spoke out in support of Wood recently, claiming to have personally witnessed the actor’s distress while on tour with the musician between 2007 and 2008. “Her demeanour changed,” Dan Cleary said of Wood. “Her physical looks changed. She got skinnier. She got ― her whole like aura just became darker.”

Manson was dropped from his record label, Loma Vista, after the allegations were made public. His booking agent CAA and longtime manager Tony Ciulla also went on to drop him, while it was confirmed that his appearances would be removed from TV shows American Gods and the Creepshow anthology.