Jon Bon Jovi slams US response to coronavirus

16 October 2020

Jon Bon Jovi has hit out at "selfish" Americans who have refused to wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jon Bon Jovi

The Bon Jovi frontman doesn't think his home country has "done enough" to tackle the health crisis and thinks it's appalling how the wearing of face coverings has become a political issue and stopped people thinking of the greater good.

He said: "I don’t think America and some Americans have done enough.

"I’m sorry to say there was no scheduled mandate. It was left up to each state and then each municipality within the States.

"It became politicised to wear a mask when it could have been something so easy.

"Generations have come before us that have spared their political affiliations for the better of the nation.

"It makes me think back to World War Two, when Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt saved the world and moms and dads worked on the production line to fight fascism.

"And you’re telling me that my countrymen couldn’t wear a piece of paper over their nose? I’m sorry but it’s selfish in a day and age when we could have been selfless."

The 58-year-old rocker - who has children Stephanie, 27, Jesse, 25, Jacob, 18, and Romeo, 16, with wife Dorothea - admitted he didn't know what to do when one of his kids contracted the virus earlier this year.

He told The Sun newspaper: "Oh for sure, it did affect us dramatically. We were in the epicentre here in New York.

"My son Jake had a mild form and we were blessed with that. At first, we didn’t know how to react as it was very early on and we didn’t know the severity.

"Dorothea and I had to deal with how to isolate him. We also know three people who have died as a result of it."

The 'Always' hitmaker has been trying to draw positives from the pandemic.

He said: "Of course we have to acknowledge and respect those who have been deathly ill and those who have lost loved ones or their livelihoods.

"But I got an email from a guy today who says he’s just had 200 meals with his family . . . and they still like him! Normally, those 200 meals wouldn’t happen in five years for this travelling salesman.

"So I do think a lot of good has come out of the huge reset the world has had to experience. Hopefully we’ll get through it and there’ll be a vaccine. We can chalk it up to experience and move on.”