Molko described Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as “racist” and “fascist”.
Brian Molko is being investigated in Turin, Italy, after he criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a performance at the Sonic Park Festival in Stupinigi. The Placebo boss called her “racist,” “fascist,” and a “bitch.”
Now he faces up to $5,600 in fines for “public defamation of the republic,” which includes insults against the government, parliament and the military, according to Variety. Placebo’s concert in Sássari (Sardinia) on August 1st is also endangered.
Councilor Marilino Andria, meanwhile, asked Sássari’s Mayor Nanni Campus what he would do to prevent a repeat of Molko’s tirades, as well as how he plans “[die Möglichkeit] to censor such an event”. An answer is currently awaited.
Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia, is classified as “post-fascist”. She was elected prime minister in September 2022 after a campaign with strong anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ agendas. Of all governments since the end of World War II, hers is considered to be the furthest to the right politically.