Thwarted Bomb Threat at Free Lady Gaga Concert
World-renowned star Lady Gaga has performed her biggest concert of her career and comes at her own expense. The singer of the hit single “Applause” held a free concert on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Copacabana Beach, and drew a record-breaking crowd of 2.5 million people. According to concert organizers, Gaga now holds the record for the highest-attended concert by a female artist in history – a record previously held by Madonna, who drew 1.6 million.
The Lady Gaga fandom had hit Brazil ever since she announced the special show. Fans had been camping outside the hotel where she had been staying since Tuesday night singing her songs as they waited and hoped to get a glimpse of the star.
On Friday night, Gaga treated fans by rehearsing on the stage, giving them a teaser of what was to come. She told her audience, “I’ve missed you so much. I know that this is not the first show here, I know this is just a rehearsal, it feels like it’s a real show.”
The concert was a true success, however Brazilian police said on Sunday that they had thwarted a bomb attack planned for the historic concert. The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state, working in coordination with the jUstice Ministry said the plot was orchestrated by a group promoting hate speech and the radicalization of teenagers, including self-harm and violent content as a form of social belonging.
“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 Justice Ministry said the recruiters identified themselves as member of Gaga’s global fan base, know as the “Little Monsters.”
The operation was based on a report by the ministry’s Cyber Operations Lab following a tip-off from Rio stat police intelligence, which uncovered digital cells encouraging violent behavior among teens using coded language and extremist symbolism.