Internet cracks up after Trump calls late singer Pavarotti a 'great friend'

At a press conference with Italy's Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on 20 April, US President Donald Trump listed some of the valuable contributions the European country has made to the world, one of them being opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, with whom he claims to have had a friendly relationship.

Describing Italy as a "beacon of artistic and scientific achievement," the president mentioned artists like Giuseppe Verdi and Pavarotti, before adding "friend of mine, great friend of mine".

The singer may have had cordial relations with Trump but according to his widow, their world views were "entirely incompatible".

In July 2016, the late opera singer's family asked Trump to stop using Pavarotti's recording of Giacomo Puccini's aria Nessun Dorma during his election campaign.

"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 expressed by the candidate Donald Trump," the family said in a statement.

Coming back to the present, the internet decided to have a field day with the president's comments by assuming that Trump was unaware that the maestro died in 2007 and joked that the Potus had been hanging out with the singer's ghost.

Even late night host Jimmy Kimmel got in on the action, summoning Pavarotti's spirit to question him about the alleged friendship. "No! He is full of s**t," the ghost said.