Placebo’s Brian Molko Charged With Defamation for Calling Italian Prime Minister “Fascist, Racist”

In August 2023, Placebo’s Brian Molko was sued by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni for calling her a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” throughout that summer time’s Sonic Park pageant. Now, after prosecutors in Turin opened an investigation into the claims, he’s being charged with defamation for “contempt of the establishments,” reviews Italian newspaper La Stampa. That offense—defaming the Italian authorities, parliament, courts, or military—carries a high-quality of as much as €5,000 ($5,240 USD) and is topic to direct summons to trial.

Meloni spearheads the nationalist Brothers of Italy get together, in addition to the hard-right coalition voted into energy in 2022. It’s largely thought-about to be Italy’s most rightwing authorities since Benito Mussolini’s ruling in the course of the World Conflict II. Beneath Meloni’s management, Italy’s authorities has ordered municipalities to cease registering same-sex dad and mom, vilified migrants and asylum seekers, and appointed Brothers of Italy loyalists to prime positions within the public broadcaster, based on a number of New York Occasions articles.

Pitchfork has reached out to Placebo’s representatives for extra data and remark.