Placebo’s Brian Molko charged with defamation against Italian PM

Placebo lead singer and guitarist Brian Molko has been charged with defamation by the Italian state after he called Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” in a 2023 concert.

The 52-year-old Scottish-American performed with his band at Sonic Park Festival in Turin in 2023. Attended by 5,000 people, the Placebo frontman also referred to Meloni as a “Nazi”. A year prior, Meloni and her far-right Brothers of Italy party had been elected to lead Italy.

At the time, Meloni sued Molko and Turin prosecutors opened an investigation into him for “contempt of institutions”. Now, Italy’s justice ministry has approved Turin’s request and charged Molko with defamation and contempt.

Defamation offences in Italy can lead to prison terms, but Molko is most likely to end up with a fine of €5,000 if the charges are upheld.

“We cannot let an international event that attracts so many people be ruined by filthy words which, amidst a general silence, aim to attack the institutions of the republic,” Brothers of Italy politician Augusta Montaruli told the press.

A history of lawsuits

This isn’t the first time that Meloni has sued a culture figure for defamation. Last year, a domestic judge ordered a journalist to pay the prime minister €5,000 for mocking her on social media.

Roberto Saviano, the author of ‘Gomorrah’, was found guilty in a trial for comments he made about Meloni over her stance on immigration. She sued him for criminal defamation.

It hasn’t always gone in the way of Meloni’s government. Last year, a judge threw out a case against Donatella Di Cesare, a professor of philosophy at the Sapienza University in Rome, after she criticised Meloni’s brother-in-law Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida’s comments on Italy being at risk of “ethnic replacement” on television.