Placebo frontman Brian Molko has been charged with defamation by Italian prosecutors after calling Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” during a festival performance in the country in 2023.
Molko was sued by Meloni shortly after he made the remarks during a performance at Turin’s Sonic Park festival, and now prosecutors in the city have charged him with defamation for “contempt of the institutions”, as Italian newspaper La Stampa reports.
The offence – which relates to defaming any of the Italian government, parliament, courts or army – carries a maximum fine of €5,000 and involves a direct summons to trial. Molko hasn’t publicly commented on the charge.
Meloni leads the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, and the far-right coalition that was voted into parliament in Italy in 2022. Under Meloni’s leadership, migrants and asylum seekers have been heavily vilified in Italy, while other far-right-leaning measures have also been put in place.
