Journalist Giulia Cortese fined US$5,500 for mocking Italy PM Giorgia Meloni’s height
- A judge ruled that social media posts targeting the premier amounted to ‘body shaming’
A judge in Milan has ordered an Italian journalist to pay €5,000 (nearly US$5,500) in damages to Premier Giorgia Meloni for making fun of her height in social media posts.
The judge ruled on Wednesday that two social media posts by journalist Giulia Cortese, who was also handed a suspended fine of €1,200 (US$1,300), amounted to “body shaming”.
In October 2021, when Meloni was still in opposition, Cortese posted a digitally altered picture on X, showing the far-right politician standing in front of a bookshelf with an image of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in the background.
Meloni reacted on Facebook by saying that the fake image was of “unique gravity” and announced that she would take legal action.
In the exchange that followed, Cortese described Meloni as a “little woman”. She then wrote in a separate post: “You don’t scare me, Giorgia Meloni. After all, you’re only 1.2 metres tall. I can’t even see you.”
Italian media outlets report that Meloni’s height is between 1.58 and 1.63 metres (5 feet, 2 inches, and 5 feet, 4 inches), though she has never officially disclosed it.