Clayton Bartolo Won’t Take Action Against Satirist He Warned Over Christmas Tree Meme
After warning a satirist to delete a meme, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo clarified that he has no intention of taking any sort of legal action against him.
Daniel Mercieca had posted a meme of Bartolo with his wife Amanda, who is shown as topless, atop one of the balconies on the Valletta Christmas tree.
Bartolo then messaged Mercieca, telling him that he would proceed against him legally unless he deletes the meme and removes it from every Facebook group he had posted it too.
“It’s in your hands,” Bartolo said. “I don’t have a problem with satirical art but when certain lines are crossed, it is too much.”
Mercieca didn’t delete the meme, but Bartolo told Lovin Malta that he has no intention of pressing charges against the satirist or reporting him to the police.
Bartolo said he appreciates satire and in fact had a friendly chat with law students who had used their graduation buscade to mocked his wife’s controversial consultancy job, where her salary was increased to €68,000 although she continued working as the minister’s de facto personal secretary.
He said he felt angry when he saw Mercieca’s meme because he thought it crossed the limit of human decency, but that he doesn’t intend to follow through with his legal warning.
“It was a personal outburst,” he said.
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