Lady Gaga’s massive concert in Rio de Janeiro — which made headlines for drawing a record-breaking 2.5 million fans — was also the target of a foiled bomb plot, Brazilian authorities revealed Sunday.
Just hours after the history-making show wrapped, Rio’s Civil Police and Brazil’s Justice Ministry confirmed the arrest of two suspects allegedly planning an attack on the free Copacabana Beach gig, which would have been one of the most heavily attended live events ever.
According to police (via Reuters), the suspects were part of an online group “promoting hate speech [against the LGBTQ community] and the radicalization of teenagers.”
“The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” the police said in a statement. “The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media.”
One adult male — believed to be the group’s ringleader — was arrested in Rio Grande do Sul for illegal possession of a firearm. A second arrest in Rio involved a teenage boy found in possession of child pornography.
The broader investigation, dubbed Operation Fake Monster — a pointed reference to Gaga’s fanbase, the Little Monsters — saw search warrants executed across 15 additional addresses nationwide. Authorities seized phones and devices while combing through online chatter for evidence of what they described as “digital cells encouraging violence.”
The threat was uncovered by Brazil’s Justice Ministry Cyber Operations Lab, following a tip from Rio state police.
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A spokesperson for Lady Gaga said the star was unaware of the plot and that there were no safety alerts shared with her team before or during the concert. “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert, and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place,” the statement read.
Gaga’s show — her first in Brazil since 2012 — went ahead without disruption, drawing more than two million fans and injecting over $100 million into the local economy. She next heads to Singapore for a string of ‘Mayhem Ball’ shows before taking the tour to North America in July.
She’s also set to return to Australia for her first stadium shows in the country, including newly added dates in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney (see full dates here). Her chart-topping album Mayhem is her fifth straight #1 in Australia.
