Lawsuit by Italian prime minister seems to prove Placebo's Brian Molko's point

The Italian prime minister is suing the Placebo singer for something Molko said on stage.
Sergione Infuso - Corbis/GettyImages
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We certainly live in a litigious world. You don't like what someone says about you? Sue them. It's fine. And yet, we also carry free speech a bit too far sometimes. Maybe some leaders or former leaders of countries hint to their faithful followers to react violently and those followers just might. But what Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is suing Placebo singer Brian Molko about only makes the prime minister looks more silly.

If a singer takes the stage in most countries and says something the government doesn't care for then maybe that singer or the singer's band is simply banned from returning to the country. If the latter part happens then that doesn't mean the vocalist was right or wrong about what they said or that the government was right or wrong about how they reacted, specifics aside. But normally, a lawsuit doesn't occur.

For instance, Matt Healy of The 1975 recently did a gig with his band in Malaysia where he openly criticized the government's view of how the people in charge of running the country treat the LGBTQ+ community. Then Healy even kissed the bassist on the stage which, of course, was beyond the beyond for the government. The festival The 1975 was playing in was canceled, but Healy wasn't sued.

Italian PM sues Placebo's Brian Molko over his choice of words

Honestly, being sued just seems like a child's way of throwing a tantrum. "You hurt my feelings! Now I want money!" That's silly.

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Yet, that is exactly what Italian PM, and ultra-conservative, Meloni has done to Molko. At a recent festival in Turin, Italy, Placebo was playing when Molko told the crowd that Meloni was a "piece of s**t, fascist, racist." As a matter of fact, Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy party has been labeled as "as conservative, national-conservative, right-wing populist, social-conservative, nationalist, neo-fascist, post-fascist, nativist and anti-immigrant."

Basically, it goes without writing, though I am writing it anyway, that Molko and Meloni share the same letter of their last name but likely little else. Molko also isn't Italian so he likely doesn't care he is being sued. As for Meloni, she probably just needs to learn to relax.

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