A spokesman for Justin Trudeau has defended the Canadian prime minister over a leaked video that showed him singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in a London hotel lobby two days before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
The 14-second video clip, viewed more than 1.5 million times, shows Trudeau in a T-shirt leaning against a piano at the Corinthia Hotel and joining others in a rendition of one of the most famous songs of the rock band Queen.
Trudeau can be heard singing “Easy come, easy go, little high, little low” and “Any way the wind blows” alongside acclaimed Canadian pianist Gregory Charles.
The footage initially sparked heated debate over its authenticity, but Trudeau’s team later acknowledged that the cellphone video was real.
“After dinner on Saturday, [the] The Prime Minister joined a small meeting with members of the Canadian delegation, who have gathered to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s life and service,” a spokesman for the Prime Minister said, adding that Trudeau had “lent in various activities” by Retreu regarding Elizabeth II while in London.
The spokesman said Charles, an Order of Canada recipient, played a series of songs on the piano, “which prompted some members of the delegation, including the prime minister, to join in.”
Charles later told the Globe and Mail newspaper that the night reminded him of Caribbean funerals, which combine somber moments with lightness and celebration.
“Everybody sang with me for two hours,” he said. “That was the feeling, it was really fun.”
At home, the Prime Minister was heavily criticized by some political commentators for a breach of decorum.
“Shame doesn’t even begin to describe it. Yes, people need to vent sometimes. No, there’s no evidence he was drunk,” Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne wrote on Twitter. “But come on: he’s the Prime Minister, in a public place, on the eve of the Queen’s funeral. And that’s how he behaves?”
Others said the uproar was akin to a manufactured controversy.
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Political commentator David Moscrop tweeted: “*Asteroid hurtles toward earth, leaving humanity with months to live. Only one last collective effort will save the planet, and the species* Canada Twitter: Let’s forensic analysis of when exactly the Prime Minister sang a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Lawyer and author Mark Bourrie wrote that he wanted others to “sing as much as you want in the days leading up to my funeral.”
“Sea beards, dirty songs we sang together as kids, songs we played at 10 on the stereo, songs from records we chose together, songs we heard together at concerts,” he tweeted. “Celebrate life” .
Trudeau, who attended the state funeral along with members of the Canadian delegation, has previously said the Queen, whom he met on several occasions, was “one of my favorite people in the world”.