Updated 7.15pm with statement by the Malta Arts Council below

Not murderers, not cannibals, not Nazis: actors have flooded social media with images of themselves playing characters to highlight their concern about a "dangerous precedent" set by a libel judgment. 

Actor Pia Zammit lost a case she had taken against newspaper it-Torċa on Thursday over a front page article that accused her of making light of Nazism. It showed a picture of her at a production of parody 'Allo, Allo, where she had played a role.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello found the article was not defamatory and “failed irremediably” due to the fact that the element of serious harm to Zammit’s reputation was missing.

But the ruling has caused outrage among actors, concerned that the judgment leaves them unprotected and open to malicious misinterpretation of the characters they play.  

Using the hashtag #IStandWithPiaZammit, some of the island's most prominent actors shared pictures of themselves in costume with an added clarification that they were not the character they were portraying on stage. 

“I've played a Nazi, a transvestite (a German one too), Lucifer himself, hell I've even eaten baby's brains on stage while playing a cannibal with an oedipus complex (Pia was in that too!),” actor Alan Paris said, posting a picture of himself in costume as Lieutenant Hubert Gruber in a production of ‘Allo ‘Allo.

“Call me insensitive, but I thought those were roles... not me... now wait... were they?”

Others soon followed suit, with actors pointing out with effective absurdity that they weren't the characters they played, such as a wardrobe, a candelabra or Mozart.

Alongside the tongue-in-cheek responses were serious messages.

The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association said it was "deeply concerned".

"If courts of law are unable to differentiate between the performer and the characters they play, then today we have established a dangerous and serious precedent that threatens the work of performing artists and freedom of creative expression."

Spazju Kreattiv artistic director Daniel Azzopardi said: “We need to have wide dialogue with all social partners so that this gap in knowledge and education is addressed imminently.”

Rockestra organiser Pawlu Borg Bonaci said the judgment attacked the industry when COVID-19 had brought it to its knees.

“This is not just an attack on Pia, but an attack on anyone who values theatre, audiences and actors alike,” he said.

“What message are you trying to send? This is a huge kick to the industry at a time when theatre is already going though a bad time. Are we honestly saying that we aren’t going to make a distinction between a character played on stage and the actor?” he asked.

Arts Council reaction

The Malta Arts Council and Teatru Malta said the distinction between the individual and the artist’s persona, as well as the free use of parody and satire, are fundamental elements which every society should cherish and promote without any disruption and interference.

"It is indeed appropriate that the artist, and whoever is involved in the artistic and cultural sector, has the comfort that their freedom of expression in all its forms is never touched or skewed."

The council and Teatru Malta said a Facebook statement that together with the government they will continue to ensure that artists’ fundamental rights are strengthened and defended.