Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken legal action against Brian Molko from the British band Placebo, after the singer insulted her during a concert near Turin last month.
While performing at the Sonic Park music festival on July 11, Molko launched into a rant against Meloni, Italy’s right-wing leader. Shouting in Italian from the stage in front of a 5,000-strong audience, Molko called Meloni a “racist,” a “piece of shit,” and a “fascist,” an outburst that ended up with the local authorities reporting him to prosecutors.
Following the incident, prosecutors in Turin officially opened an investigation into Molko for “contempt of the institutions.”
Italian news outlets reported Wednesday that Meloni’s lawyers have now taken legal action against the singer, filing a lawsuit for defamation.
This is not the first time Meloni has filed a defamation lawsuit. Last year, she took two journalists from Italian newspaper Domani to court over the use of a specific term in an article.