
© Alex Fraser / Reuters
Andrea Bocelli outside the empty Duomo cathedral in Milan. April 2020.
Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, a symbol of hope during the coronavirus outbreak, said he was "offended" by the strict quarantine rules. Addressing the Senate, he admitted violating the "unhealthy" lockdown himself.
The famous blind tenor attacked the government's coronavirus response during a conference in Italy's Senate.
"I felt humiliated and offended. I could not leave the house even though I had committed no crime."
"I must confess - and I do it here publicly - that
I have also willingly violated the ban [on leaving the house] because it did not seem right or healthy. I am of a certain age, and I need the sunlight and vitamin D," the singer said.
Bocelli, 61, told reporters that he has been "expressing doubts about the seriousness of this so-called pandemic."
"I know many people but none of them had ended up in intensive care. So what was all this sense of gravity for?" he asked. The singer also seemed to encourage people to socialize amid the outbreak by saying that they should "move around, get to know each other."
Comment: Oh, how low the Grey Lady has sunk.