Mexican governor says he booked Marilyn Manson for state fair in “defence of freedom of expression”

A governor in Mexico has defended booking Marilyn Manson for a state fair as a “defence of freedom of expression”.

The musician performed a free show in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí on August 10, pulling in a crowd of over 205,000 people. Ahead of the gig, the planned performance was met with controversy from local religious groups, who deemed Manson’s presence “inappropriate”.

It comes as Manson has been the subject of a slew of allegations in recent years: he was accused of rape and domestic violence by four women, which he repeatedly denied as “falsehoods”.

The case ended at the start of the year when prosecutors said the claims against him had exceeded the statute of limitations and that they were unable to “prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt”.

Now, the state Governor Gallardo Cardona has hit back against the protests, saying that Manson’s performance was in “defense of freedom of expression,” as well as helping the city overcome its “cultural lag” and “conservative mindsets” that he says have prevented them from hosting major concert events.

“There will always be opposing voices, and Marilyn Manson has faced them not just in Mexico but in other parts of the world too,” Gallardo Cardona said in an interview with Billboard Español. “This isn’t about religion; it’s about cultural justice, about creating unity, and we must do it through music.”

The show divided opinion in the city, with a cow’s head reportedly left in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Luis Potosí in response to Catholic groups demanding the show be cancelled, and a conservative group collecting around 6,000 signatures in protest of the concert.

The city has a history of protesting against hard rock, blocking a planned Black Sabbath gig in 1989 when critics claimed the band “promoted satanism and anti-values”, per Consequence.

Though Manson’s performance did go ahead, a gig he was due to play a gig in Brighton in October, was cancelled after several MPs spoke up calling for it to be axed. Prior to that, Millie Earl, Council leader in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), had also pushed for a gig in Dorset on Halloween to be cancelled.

Earl said the call to cancel his show was made in an effort to “reinforce the message that violence against women and girls isn’t something that’s acceptable in our community”.

Black Sabbath fans also complained about the singer being allowed to appear during the band’s final concert.