The satirical website Nonciclopedia has shut, for an indefinite period, in the wake of apparent legal difficulties relating to an alleged complaint by the Italian rock star Vasco Rossi.

The nature of the complaint isn’t clear, but the site is known for its satirical approach to the Wikipedia-style encyclopedia game. The site claims to have already removed the ‘offending’ page, and it’s not clear whether Rossi is still considering taking legal action against the site or the unknown editor who wrote the page’s content.

There are also unconfirmed reports that police also became interested in the site. But the decision by Nonciclopedia to close in this way has sparked huge amounts of comment online, as Italians and people around the world react to the story.

Vasco Rossi is a popular and controversial Italian singer-songwriter who has released more than 25 albums during his career. He has been releasing music since the late 70’s and his best known release is probably 1980’s Colpa d’Alfredo, the title track of which was for a while reportedly was banned from Italian radio.