Argentina’s president Javier Milei continues attacking one of his critics, singer Lali Espósito, in interviews and on social media. The biggest artists in Argentina’s music scene are coming to the pop star’s defense and speaking out against the right-wing politician.
Lali Espósito is an actress and singer from Argentina. She was one of the artists unafraid to critique Milei when he ran for president last year. When Milei won the primary election in the country last August, Espósito wrote on X: “How dangerous. How sad.” That following November, he emerged victorious in the presidential race. With his radical and right-wing populist policies, Milei has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Milei’s first attacks against Espósito took place in January 2024. His account on X liked tweets about false reports that Espósito was going to leave the music industry. Those likes emboldened his followers to attack her on social media.
But Espósito hasn’t backed down from criticizing the president. During her set at Cosquin Rock last weekend, she denounced his libertarian government. “This party and union that we Argentines are with art, music, and culture, no one is going to take that away from us,” she said. “It is up to us and you joining us to defend it.”
During a recent interview, Argentina’s president spoke out against Espósito’s appearance at Cosquin Rock. Now, other Argentine artists are standing up for Espósito and slamming Milei’s attacks. X user @Andy_TToledo compiled a list of artists coming to Espósito’s defense. Argentine rock act Conociendo Rusia wrote, “Milei… how disgusting you are. Of course I stand with Lali, a hard worker for as long as she can remember, talented, and a great Argentine representative in the world.”
Fellow Argentine pop star Maria Becerra also threw her support behind her. “I cannot ignore the public attacks that my colleague is receiving for verbalizing her position,” she wrote on X. “The cruelty towards her is violence and makes it clear that they want to silence her. We are artists, each of us has our own voice, and these behaviors only remind us of a chapter in the dark history of our country… do you remember?” Becerra appears to hint at the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
Other Argentine artists who have shown their support for Espósito include Gustavo Santaolalla, Ca7riel, Jimena Barón, Chita, Rip Gang, Angela Navarro, Bárbara Recanati, and Dante Spinetta. Even though Emilia went viral last month when her team shut down a question about Milei’s presidency during an interview, she previously liked one of Lali’s “anti-right” tweets.