Upbeat Lady Gaga song interrupts somber Italian council meeting on coronavirus

A rare moment of levity was injected into a grim live-streamed regional council meeting on the spread of coronavirus in Italy on March 1, when an upbeat electronic Lady Gaga song called Stupid Love suddenly started playing on an attendee’s phone.

The Regione Liguria council’s coronavirus commission met on Sunday, March 1, at the Sala della Transparenza in Genoa to share the most up-to-date information with a Facebook Live audience of almost 40,000.

Toward the end of the press conference, the opening notes of the song blared from a phone, forcing laughter amid the grim situation.

Lady Gaga responded to the viral moment, tweeting, “This is why I make music.”

Stupid Love was released as a single on February 28, part of the pop star’s upcoming album Chromatica.

At least 25 people in Liguria had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, local reports said. There are 2,502 confirmed cases of the virus in Italy as a whole, and 79 Italians have died from the disease.

The Italian government announced on March 4 that all schools and teaching activities in the country would be suspended until March 15, according to reports.