Andrea Bocelli felt ‘humiliated and offended’ by Italy’s COVID-19 lockdown

Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli — who recently revealed that he had contracted COVID-19 and fully recovered – had a few harsh words about the country’s lockdown measures during the pandemic, according to a report. The 61-year-old star said he felt “humiliated and offended” by the measures, saying, “I could not leave the house even …

The 61-year-old star said he felt “humiliated and offended” by the measures, saying, “I could not leave the house even though I had committed no crime,” the BBC reported.

Bocelli also admitted that he had disobeyed the lockdown rules and believed that the severity of the pandemic, which has killed more than 35,000 Italians, had been overblown, according to the news outlet.

It was unclear from the report when he ignored the rules.

In May, he said he had made a “swift and full recovery” from the disease, which he contracted in March, and has donated his blood to help vaccine research.

Bocelli made his most recent comments at a conference in Italy’s Senate attended by opposition politicians including Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, who has attacked the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over the handling of the health crisis in the country.

A worker carries out sanitation operations for the coronavirus pandemic in Piazza dei Miracoli

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A general view shows Italian flags hanging from windows in a deserted street of Albino near Bergamo, Lombardy

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Doctors treat coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit

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Italy imposed a national lockdown in early March and eased it in stages in the following months.

Bocelli, 61, said he disobeyed lockdown rules “because I did not think it was right or healthy to stay home at my age,” adding that “I am a certain age and I need sun and vitamin D.”

He also suggested that others should “refuse to follow the rules.”

Bocelli added that the outbreak had been overblown and he didn’t know anyone in intensive care.

“So what was all this sense of gravity for?” he said. “Let’s refuse to follow this rule. Let’s read books, move around, get to know each other, talk, dialogue.”

He also slammed the government’s approach to reopening schools.

“I have an eight-year-old daughter and it’s unthinkable that these children will have to go to school divided by a piece of plexiglass and hidden behind a mask,” he said.

“It’s unthinkable that schools were closed so quickly, and with the same speed nightclubs were reopened, where young people go not to learn, but to disperse their brains,” Bocelli added.

He later claimed his remarks were “misunderstood,” adding that his foundation has helped many people who have been sickened with the bug.