Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli
apologized on Wednesday after coming under heavy fire for
criticising the government's coronavirus restrictions at a
conference at the Senate earlier this week.
During the conference Bocelli said he felt "humiliated and
offended" by the limitations on freedom imposed during the
COVID-19 lockdown.
"If my speech to the Italian Senate caused suffering, I wish to
extend my sincere apologies, because my intention could not have
been more different," Bocelli, who recovered after contracting
the coronavirus himself, said on his Facebook page.
"Just as it was not my intention to offend those who have been
struck by COVID.
"In fact, my family was not spared by the virus: we all caught
it and we all feared for the worst, because no one can know the
course a disease such as this will take, which is still
partially unknown to us.
"The intent of my speech to the Italian Senate was to send a
message of hope for a near future in which - children first and
foremost - can find again a sense of normality and can hope to
live "as children", playing with and hugging one another, as
they should at their age, and to be able to grow up happy and
healthy.
"This, and this alone, was the meaning I intended to convey with
my speech. To all those people who felt offended or suffered
because of how I expressed myself - undoubtedly not in the best
possible way - and the words I used, I ask that they accept my
sincerest apologies, as my intention was quite the opposite".
During the conference, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the
opposition League party, refused to respect the obligation to
wear a facemask, given that the meeting was held in an enclosed
space.
The conference also featured the participation of Professor
Alberto Zangrillo, the head of anesthesiology and intensive care
at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, who has caused controversy by
saying that COVID-19 has become significantly less potent than
it was a few months ago.
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