Disturbing footage believed to have been directed by Eli Roth (Hostel) for a scrapped Marilyn Manson music video was leaked online today. It depicts (TW: blood, sexual assault, sexual violence, rape) a man who appears to be Roth himself forcibly raping singer Lana Del Rey, among other bloody scenes. Representatives of Manson have now denied that he had any involvement in the video, pointing out that the clips were spliced together from other sources.
The video, entitled “Sturmgruppe 2013 Reel (Short Film) Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Manson HD,” raised an inevitable uproar when it surfaced on the web this morning. During the violent sexual assault of Del Rey, which we will not detail out of respect to our readers, you can see several party balloons in the background that have the word “rape” written on them.
Many were quick to point to the horror/gore filmmaker as the responsible party, due to a comment he made in an interview with Larry King in October of 2013. Roth told King he had done a project with Manson and Del Rey, boasting, “The footage is so sick, it’s been locked in a vault for over a year.”
Though Roth has received much condemnation for his possible role in the project, Manson and Del Rey have also been heavily criticized today. Now, Manson’s representatives have made a formal statement about the footage in an effort to clear the air.
“Manson did not direct this, shoot it, nor was it for a Marilyn Manson video or outtake footage made by him or to be used by him with his music,” explained Manson’s representative, Kathryn Frazier of Biz3. “It must be a fan video splicing up old Manson video footage with someone else’s Lana Del Rey footage.”
Once this was established, viewers began identifying pieces of the footage in official Manson music videos. The clips of him included in the Sturmgruppe Reel appear to be taken from his videos for “No Reflection,” and “Slo-Mo-Tion.”
However, it is still unclear where the footage of Del Rey was derived from. She and her representatives have yet to comment on her appearance in the video.
The video has since been removed from most outlets, most likely by Manson’s management. According to YouTube, it was taken down due to a copyright claim. However, you can still view a short cut of the footage (2:24), at your own risk, here.