Say what you want about Marilyn Manson (many people do), but the guy is a rock star. I’m not wild about what he does in his personal life. There’s also a fair chance that he enabled Johnny Depp’s descent into a caricature. But — don’t laugh too hard — Manson is a fine frontman, and his musical style has evolved past shock tactics. The Pale Emporer is a staggeringly bluesy album. He’s still a mess though. Dude has a reputation as a nefarious cad to maintain, so sometimes he gets carried away with rebellion. Such as the time when he scrawled “F*** you” on his face to deter the LAX paparazzi. Then he felt bad, apologized, and covered his face around children in the airport. I do notice the guy’s interactions with fans, and he’s usually swell to them. This story about him getting punched in the face at a Canadian Denny’s sounds off somehow:

Goth rocker Marilyn Manson got more than two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of bacon and two sausage links during a trip to Denny’s this past weekend … he allegedly got clocked in the face!

According to our sources, Manson had a concert in Alberta, Canada on Saturday night and hit up a local Denny’s around 2 AM. We’re told Manson got into an argument with a group at another table, and at some point allegedly called a guy’s gf a bitch.

The guy was pissed, and we’re told he responded by punching Manson in the face.

Police confirm there was a disturbance at Denny’s that night, but no charges were filed and the case is closed.

We’ve reached out to Manson, and he’s going on the attack for what he calls a “sucker punch.”

[From TMZ]

TMZ followed up with Manson’s manager, who says Manson posed for photos with these woman and didn’t call anyone a bitch. He says the attacker elbowed Manson’s makeup artist in the face and “began screaming about blowing up Manson’s next concert.” A witness spoke with the Toronto Sun and says, “Manson was being friendly with everyone, anyone who wanted a picture, he would give them a picture, anyone who wanted an autograph he would give them an autograph. They were just talking and the guy just punched him right in the face without any provocation.” It sounds like this guy just wanted to punch Marilyn Manson, so that’s what he did. Manson says he will press charges in Alberta.

More Manson news. He and Billy Corgan announced a joint tour this summer. They did a Reddit AMA together. I was struck at how giggly they were together, both typing “hehee” all over the place. They gushed about cats. Manson admits to getting drunk and buying stuff on the internet, and then he forgets until “it’s like Christmas” when packages arrive. They discuss the rumor that Manson was really Paul Pfeiffer from The Wonder Years, and Billy says that rumor used to be about him. I remember people saying Billy was the kid from Small Wonder. It’s a fun read.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN