Placebo frontman Brian Molko has been charged with defamation after he reportedly called the Italian prime minister a “fascist” and a “Nazi” during a gig in the country.
Molko, 52, is said to have made the remarks about Giorgia Meloni when Placebo played the Sonic Park festival in Turin in 2023, which drew an attendance of around 5000 people.
Italy's justice ministry approved a request from prosecutors on Monday (17 February) to charge the Scottish-American rocker for allegedly calling Ms Meloni a “piece of s***, fascist, racist” and a “Nazi”.
Local prosecutors responded to a complaint from police at the festival about Molko who was subsequently investigated for defamation and contempt.
At the time, members of Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party, which has its roots in Italy's neo-fascist movement, denounced the insults and demanded an apology.
“We cannot let an international event that attracts so many people (to Italy) be ruined by filthy words which, amidst a general silence, aim to attack the institutions of the republic,” LaPresse quoted Brothers of Italy lawmaker Augusta Montaruli as saying.
Defamation offences in Italy can land culprits with a prison term of up to three years.
However, a spokesman for Justice Minister, Carlo Norio said that a sentence is unlikely to be imposed in this instance. Molko is now likely to face a fine of €5,000 (£4,200) if the charges are upheld.
Meloni was elected in September 2022, after her far-right Brothers of Italy party won an overall majority.
In July 2024 an Italian judge ordered a journalist to pay Meloni €5,000 (£4,210) in damages for mocking her height on social media, ruling that it amounted to “body shaming”.
The judge also imposed a suspended fine of €1,200 on Giulia Cortese for her defamatory posts on X from 2021, before Ms Meloni took power.
Ms Cortese reacted to the judgment saying the Italian government had a “serious problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent”.
“This country seems to get closer to Orbán’s Hungary,” she said on X. “These are bad times for independent journalists and opinion leaders. Let’s hope for better days ahead. We won’t give up!”
In October 2021, when Ms Meloni was still in opposition, Ms Cortese posted a digitally altered picture on X showing the politician standing in front of a bookshelf with a likeness of Benito Mussolini in the background.
