Marilyn Manson Dedicates Song To Paris Jackson, Pretends To Slit Wrist

Earlier this week, Paris Jackson landed in the hospital after attempting suicide. Details on what exactly happened are still a bit fuzzy, but she was allegedly stressed out about having to deal with the legal action involving her father and mad after being told she couldn’t attend a Marilyn Manson concert. After the information went public, the veteran singer and performer got caught up in the saga. Consequently, he decided to dedicate his famously dark and angsty track “Disposable Teens” to Jackson at a recent concert. Unfortunately, that was quickly overshadowed later in the night when he pantomimed slitting his wrists in a gesture that many perceived to be more than a little insensitive.

Daily Mail caught a creepy snapshot of the action that went down at the singer’s recent concert in Los Angeles at the Gibson Ampitheatre. Manson has pantomimed self-harming behaviors onstage before, but this time he’s attracted criticism because of the connection to Paris and her recent issues. Let’s be clear, here, however. The singer did not link his mimicking of self-harming behaviors with the song he dedicated to Jackson, which can be viewed above.

Before beginning the bizarre performance, Manson spoke out about being happy to perform in Los Angeles, before simply stating, “This song is for Paris Jackson.” He then went into a loud and not particularly great rendition of “Disposable Teens,” a song that has been popular for years. No doubt Manson meant the tribute to Jackson to be a nice gesture and one that went hand in hand with his offer to give the teen a V.I.P ticket after she recovers. I suppose if you really want to stretch things, you could say that Manson mimicking self-harm was insensitive, but the man normally indulges in that sort of weird behavior during his performances and I highly doubt that he would go so far as to direct that at the tragedy that is Jackson’s suicide attempt.

Over the years, performers build up certain gestures and tendencies they do on a regular basis, and they can’t be expected to alter all of them because of one sad situation. It’s easy to get riled up about a dude with creepy makeup, but Manson didn’t sign up to be a role model for suicidal youths—he just got stuck in the crossfire.