Podcaster Ricky Caruana Defends Malta Culture Minister's 'Wannabe Artists' Verdict

Podcaster Ricky Caruana has declared that Malta has "little to no artists, that's the reality," in a 45-minute video rant defending Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea amid a growing backlash from the country's creative community.

"If you ever meet a real artist, let me know," Caruana wrote in the caption accompanying the video, which he posted to Facebook.

The outburst lands days after a recording began circulating in which Agius Galea described his first months in office as "traumatic", particularly when dealing with artists who felt like they were "God's gift to the world". Malta's creative community has been criticising the minister over the comments ever since.

Caruana takes the opposite view. He argues the minister was right on the money — and probably should have gone even harder.

What did Caruana actually say?

In the video, Caruana targeted what he called "wannabe artists" who "expect you to bow down and tell them they're bigger than Leonardo Da Vinci and Caravaggio and Michelangelo".

He cited the famous banana duct-taped to a wall, Maurizio Cattelan's work "Comedian", which sold for $6.2 million in November 2024, as evidence of a broader problem. "There's this problem around the world, and I can tell you about it because I spent my whole life in the entertainment industry," he said.

His scorn extended to DJs who "start feeling like they're Carl Cox as soon as they have 50 people in front of them".

He was sarcastic about performance art, too. "You stayed naked in front of Castille for six hours, artist, wow what art, hold up because I'm going to confuse it with the statue of David," he said. "Everyone's an artist. You scratch your ass, artist. You piss on a wall, artist. What artist?"

He mocked the theatricality he associates with the scene: "Your attitude is shit, you get this huge ego, with that famous scarf and beret and colourful glasses, to act all cultural and Parisian."

Who counts as a real artist?

Caruana named one Maltese figure he considers the genuine article: operatic tenor Joseph Calleja. "Joseph Calleja is an artist," he said. "But he proved himself, world-known, his voice is enchanting. But his art is unique."

The rest, in his telling, are pretenders. "Unfortunately, the wannabe artists are the ones who are the loudest, always with the most populist ways, attacking the government and the minister. Wow, what an artist, Che Guevara."

What does this change for Malta's creatives?

For now, nothing formally. The minister has not retracted his remarks, and Caruana's video deepens rather than settles the row. But the episode exposes a live fault line between the government and parts of the cultural sector less than a year into Agius Galea's tenure — a rift artists say began with the minister's own description of working with them as traumatic, and one that a 45-minute defence from a divisive broadcaster is unlikely to close.