Marilyn Manson claims that Justin Bieber told him that he made him “relevant again” with his range of repurposed Manson merchandise.

The two artists initially appeared friends with Bieber donning a Marilyn Manson t-shirt onstage and Manson responding by wearing a Bieber shirt of his own. Then, last July, Bieber started selling vintage Manson t-shirts with his own name on them, claiming that Manson had agreed to him “reinterpreting” his old tour merch. Bieber’s reworked Manson t-shirts sold for nearly £$200 (£150) each.

Now, in an interview with Consequence of Sound, Manson said that when he first met Bieber “he was [already] wearing the shirt that had his name on my shirt, and he said to me, ‘I made you relevant again.'”


“Bad mistake to say to me,” Manson added. “He was a real piece of shit in the way he had the arrogance to say that. He was a real touchy-feely guy, too, like, ‘yo yo bro!’ and touches you when he’s talking. I’m like, ‘you need to stand down, you’re dick height on me, ok?’ [laughs] ‘Alright? So stand down son.'”

“The next day I told him I’d be at his soundcheck at Staples Center to do ‘Beautiful People’”. Manson says he had been joking but that Bieber “believed that I’d show up, because he was that stupid.”

Manson also revealed that he “took all the proceeds” from the repurposed shirts: “They didn’t even fight, they were just like, ‘yea, we already know, we did wrong, so here’s the money.’”

Meanwhile, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor recently said that Justin Bieber “can kiss my ass” for his Manson t-shirts.

Taylor criticised the appropriation of metal culture within the mainstream and fashion worlds, as well as metal’s flirting with fascist iconography. “You’re seeing grandmas in Slipknot shirts,” Taylor told The Guardian. “It’s really weird. It makes it easier for me to blend in, which I am completely happy to do; you get tired of the stares after a while.”


“But punk and metallers take ‘fascist’ imagery like shaved heads and black clothing and divorce it from racism and nationalism, to make a statement about disaffection; you’re now seeing people like Richard Spencer who are not only appropriating the imagery of nationalism, but also the rhetoric. The anger, the racism of it. It worries me.”

“Oh, but Justin Bieber’s line in pseudo-metal T-shirts? He can kiss my ass,” Taylor added.