Billy Corgan has defended his ongoing friendship with Marilyn Manson despite the latter being accused of sexual assault and abuse by multiple women.

“As a Christian person, you have to stand by your friends, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and it doesn’t mean you’re not critical,” Corgan said on the New York Times ‘ Popcast earlier this week. “In his case — and I’m not here to adjudicate it — but the D.A. looked at the case for five years.”

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman added: “In some cases, I knew personal things behind the scenes that are not in the public sphere.…