--- title: Donald Trump Calls Luciano Pavarotti His 'Great Friend' description: President Trump called renowned deceased opera singer Luciano Pavarotti his great friend, and the internet had a field day canonical: https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-21T14:20:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:01.728Z og:title: Trump Called Pavarotti His Great Friend. The Internet Has Jokes. og:description: President Trump called renowned deceased opera singer Luciano Pavarotti his great friend og:url: https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81825d0a61d1ed4e/6988c3e88fd2ee590d356b40/gettyimages-670989956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5407 og:image:height: 3041 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Called Pavarotti His Great Friend. The Internet Has Jokes. twitter:description: President Trump called renowned deceased opera singer Luciano Pavarotti his great friend twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81825d0a61d1ed4e/6988c3e88fd2ee590d356b40/gettyimages-670989956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Calls Deceased Opera Legend Pavarotti His 'Great Friend' and the Internet Has Jokes > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Apr 21, 2017 2:20 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 20, 2017\. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, April 20, 2017\. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Apr 21, 2017 2:20 PM UTC When [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4601874/paolo-gentiloni-government-italy/) called the renowned deceased opera singer [Luciano Pavarotti](http://time.com/4601874/paolo-gentiloni-government-italy/) his friend late Thursday, the moment lit up the internet. “Friend of mine, great friend of mine,” Trump said of the rare maestro praising Italy’s rich culture. While Trump was perhaps reflecting on his relationship with the bearded tenor before he died, that didn’t stop people from having a field day. The [rare maestro died at 71](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1659378,00.html) in Northern Modena after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He may very well have been friendly with Trump, but Pavarotti’s family were no fans of Trump’s frequent use of Pavarotti’s music at rallies. In July, during Trump’s campaign Pavarotti’s family asked his team to stop playing the late singer’s signature song — a recording of Giacomo Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma.” “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,” the [statement read](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pavarotti-trump-idUSKCN1012T0). People couldn’t stop joking about Pavarotti, the supposed Trump-friendly ghost. Even late night host [Jimmy Kimmel](http://theweek.com/speedreads/693799/jimmy-kimmel-asks-pavarottis-ghost-hes-really-friends-president-trump) evoked the bearded man in ghost form to ask him if Trump was really his pal on _Live!_ See some of the reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/855151308289998851) > [](https://twitter.com/chaplinlives/status/855408294533443584) > [](https://twitter.com/InxsyS/status/855371085025599488) > [](https://twitter.com/A%5FMerritt/status/855148957059690502) > [](https://twitter.com/jackrox/status/855268807266324480) > [](https://twitter.com/Vallmeister/status/855248318573809664) The star of _Review_ had a theory. > [](https://twitter.com/TVsAndyDaly/status/855241987628216320) And a parody account couldn’t help but weigh in on the clip. > [](https://twitter.com/RealDonaldTrFan/status/855223999634317312) Trump met with Italian [Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni](http://time.com/4601874/paolo-gentiloni-government-italy/) for the first time Thursday afternoon to discuss the [Group of Seven industrialized nations](http://time.com/4748370/donald-trump-paolo-gentiloni-meeting-watch-online/) meeting in Italy in May. Gentiloni is a member of the Democrat Party and former foreign minister. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/"},"headline":"Trump Calls Deceased Opera Legend Pavarotti His 'Great Friend' and the Internet Has Jokes","datePublished":"2017-04-21T14:20:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:01.728Z","description":"President Trump called renowned deceased opera singer Luciano Pavarotti his dear friend, and the internet had a field day","url":"https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81825d0a61d1ed4e/6988c3e88fd2ee590d356b40/gettyimages-670989956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81825d0a61d1ed4e/6988c3e88fd2ee590d356b40/gettyimages-670989956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump","caption":"President Donald Trump","creditText":"The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4750178/trump-pavarotti-great-friend-reactions/","name":"Trump Calls Deceased Opera Legend Pavarotti His 'Great Friend' and the Internet Has Jokes"}}]}] ```