Phoebe Bridgers Addresses Guitar-Smashing on ‘SNL,’ Marilyn Manson

Following her Saturday Night Live debut, Phoebe Bridgers spoke with CNN about smashing her guitar on stage, as well as the recent abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson.

“I’ve always wanted to do it,” Bridgers told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour of destroying her guitar. “And when I mentioned it to the show, they were really excited and they built me this whole monitor that would look like it was exploded even if I wasn’t hitting it that hard. So yeah, just a bucket list thing.”

In discussing the Internet backlash that ensued following her SNL performance, Amanpour pointed out that many male musicians have smashed their instruments onstage in the past — including members of the Who, the Clash, and others. “People were saying it’s derived or corny,” Bridgers said with a laugh. “And I’m like ‘Well yeah, it’s derived and corny after the first time somebody did it. That’s the whole point.’”

Bridgers and Amanpour also discussed the #MeToo movement and abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson; Bridgers recently tweeted her own horrifying experience with the musician where he called a room in his house the “rape room” when she visited as a teen.

“I think it’s never enough,” she said of the music industry’s efforts to hold those accountable. “I think it’s very funny that Marilyn Manson’s label decided to drop him right when the story went public, and people have just known about it for so long. I find that very annoying. I think it’s a lot of performative activism, basically. I think people should take more responsibility internally. It doesn’t matter how many people know about it. You should look into things like you’re the FBI. But when people make people money it’s really hard to walk away from that. But I think more people should.”

Bridgers recently reunited with Boygenius for Julien Baker’s song “Favor.” She’s set to perform at the virtual Tibet House Benefit on February 17th.