Giorgia Meloni filed a defamation lawsuit against Placebo singer Brian Molko after the musician called the Italian Prime Minister a “racist”, and “fascist”, during an expletive-laden rant at a concert in mid-July.
Meloni, through her lawyers, has filed a lawsuit nearly a week after Molko made his invectives during the performance of the band at the Sonic Park Festival in Stupinigi near Turin.
A video of Molko’s voice on a mobile phone that circulated on social media said: “Giorgia Meloni, piece of (expletive); racist, fascist (expletive).
The Turin prosecutors launched an investigation into Molko’s verbal attack on the PM for “contempt to institutions.” Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a far-right party with roots in Italy’s neofascist movements, condemned the insults. They demanded an apology.
“We can’t let an event that brings so many people to Italy be ruined by dirty words, which aim, amid a general quiet, to attack the institutions of our republic,” LaPresse reported Brothers of Italy legislator Augusta Montaruli saying.
La Stampa is an Italian newspaper that first reported Meloni’s suit. Molko could be fined $5,500 if found guilty.
