Billy Corgan addressed his friendship with the embattled Marilyn Manson during an appearance on the New York Times podcast Popcast .

Corgan and Manson attended each other’s birthday parties the past couple of years, leading Popcast co-host Jon Caramanica to ask Corgan about maintaining a friendship with the shock rocker in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations against him in recent years.

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The Smashing Pumpkins frontman pointed to both public developments related to the accusations, including the Los Angeles District Attorney dropping a sexual assault case against Manson , as well as his own personal knowledge of the situation.

“I think that ultimately, as a Christian person… you have to stand by your friends,” began Corgan, “but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and that doesn’t mean you’re not critical. In his case, and I’m not here to adjudicate it, but the DA looked at the case for five years.…