The past year has seen Evan Rachel Wood and Marilyn Manson’s former relationship put under various moral and legal microscopes, though without much resolution stemming from it all at this point. Wood’s two-part documentary Phoenix Rising aired in mid-March 2022 on HBO, having debuted earlier in the year at the Sundance Film Festival, and sparked a lawsuit from Manson’s legal team. While all of that is happening on the main stage, so to speak, Wood’s supporters are attempting to scrub the Internet of a specific music video from the rock star that allegedly features the Westworld actress being sexually assaulted.
A petition was started on Change.org with the overall goal of removing Marilyn Manson’s 2007 music video for the single “Heart-Shaped Glasses (When The Heart Guides The Hand)” from YouTube, with other music services being added in after the initial posting. The video was filmed in 2007 when Manson (real name Brian Warner) and Evan Rachel Wood were dating, and made waves at the time for seemingly depicting the couple engaging in legitimate sexual acts. While it was denied at the time by Wood, and seemingly shrugged off by Manson, Wood has since claimed she was given absinthe ahead of filming, and that the physical acts seen therein were non-consensual and to be considered sexual assault. Due to the statute of limitations having passed, however, she has been unable to do anything about it from a legal standpoint.
While Marilyn Manson has denied all claims of sexual abuse regarding the music video’s filming — as well as the various other rape and assault allegations made against him by Wood and several other women — the attention surrounding the video and its production has only grown. And so fans and supporters of the actress, as well as fellow survivors, allies and advocates, are attempting to remove the video from not only YouTube, but also other mainstream services where the song and/or video can be seen or heard, with TIDAL, Apple Music and Spotify being added onto the petition a few days after it was first posted.
The petition claims the video violates several of YouTube’s Community Guidelines and Policies, including the below:
- Pornography or depicting sexual acts, genitals, or fetishes for the purpose of sexual gratification on any surface (such as video, text, audio, images)
- Nudity or partial nudity for the purpose of sexual gratification
- Non-consensual sex acts or unwanted sexualization
- Violent, graphic, or humiliating fetish content where the purpose is sexual gratification
There is an additional hope that YouTube and other services would remove Marilyn Manson’s channels and hubs altogether, but this would take even more of an effort, and would likely need legal ramifications to come into play. It’s noted that there’s a reported clause in YouTube’s terms of service that specify how channels can be removed due to a subject’s actions away from the platform, but it would likely require Manson’s conviction or confession, which would then need to be judged on how much it “harms the YouTube community.”
At the time of this writing, the Change.org petition has reached over 43,000 supporters as it attempts to hit the 50,000-signature goal. It’s unclear what could happen at that point if and when the goal is reached, as far as whether or not YouTube execs and others will be convinced to remove “Heart Shaped Glasses” from their platforms.
Evan Rachel Wood is currently gearing up for an appearance as Madonna in Roku Channel’s upcoming comedic biopic WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, with Daniel Radcliffe in the starring role. Meanwhile, Marilyn Manson’s music and acting career has stalled, but his relatively recent work with other controversial artists such as with Kanye West for Donda are apparently keeping him busy.
