Tell Trump that his “great friend” Pavarotti has been dead for a decade.

This week, Italian Prime Minster Paolo Fentiloni visited Trump in the White House to discuss a G7 meeting in Italy next month.  The two held a joint press conference where POTUS praised Italy for being “a beacon of artistic of artistic and scientific achievement” and for producing artists like “Giuseppe Verdi and Mr Pavorotti”. He then added that the legendary opera singer Luciano Pavarotti was “a friend of mine, a great friend of mine”.

It’s not apparent if the two ever met before Pavarotti’s sad death from pancreatic cancer. However, in 2002 Trump hired Pavorotti for a concert at one of his Atlantic City casinos – after an allegedly “lack-luster” performance Trump demanded a refund.

Pavarotti’s widow would also probably disagree with the President’s claims.

Last year, the family of the late singer asked Trump to stop using the singer’s music at his rallies. In a statement they said:

As members of his immediate family, we would like to recall that the values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with the world view offered by the candidate Donald Trump.

As usual with a Donald Trump gaffe, Twitter has been having a lot of fun at his expense:

Source: Donald Trump calls Pavarotti his “great friend”. He’s been dead for 10 years | indy100