Police believe attackers targeted LGBTQ fans attending American star’s free concert on Rio’s Copacabana Beach.
Published On 4 May 2025
Brazilian police have arrested two people in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro that drew more than two million people.
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro said on social media on Sunday that it had thwarted a bomb attack that had been planned by the suspects for the free concert, held on the famous Copacabana Beach on Saturday.
The police added that an adult “responsible for the plan” had been arrested along with a teenager in an operation codenamed “Fake Monster” – a reference to “Little Monsters”, the star’s pet name for her fans.
The suspects, it said, had recruited people online to “carry out attacks using improvised explosives” in the aim of “gaining notoriety on social media”. Police working in coordination with the Justice Ministry carried out raids across Rio de Janeiro state as well as in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso.
Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio Police, said