Brazilian authorities successfully thwarted a planned bombing at Lady Gaga’s historic free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on May 3, 2025. The event, part of the “Todo Mundo no Rio” festival, drew an estimated 2.5 million attendees, marking the largest audience ever for a female artist’s concert.
The operation, dubbed “Fake Monster,” led to the arrest of two individuals: an adult male in Rio Grande do Sul for illegal weapons possession and a teenager in Rio de Janeiro on child pornography charges. Investigations revealed that the suspects were part of an extremist group disseminating hate speech against the LGBTQIA+ community and attempting to recruit minors online for coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.
Authorities conducted raids across multiple states, seizing electronic devices and materials linked to the plot. Despite the severity of the threat, the concert proceeded without incident, and Lady Gaga and her team were unaware of the planned attack until after the event.
In a heartfelt message shared on Instagram, Lady Gaga expressed her gratitude to her Brazilian fans, stating, “Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show—the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil.”
The successful prevention of the attack underscores the importance of vigilant security measures at large-scale public events and highlights the ongoing challenges posed by online radicalization and hate speech.
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