Italy’s national broadcaster has been thrown into chaos after a shambolic and offensive commentary of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony went out to 9.2 million viewers
The head of an Italian broadcaster has been forced to resign following an almighty backlash for his error-strewn and offensive commentary of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Paolo Petrecca has finally given in to pressure to step down after a near-national scandal in Italy.
Petrecca was the head of Rai Sport, the sports channel from Italy’s national broadcaster and equivalent of the BBC. He handed in his resignation on Thursday after his colleagues went on strike in the wake of his shambolic performance for the opening ceremony at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
He stepped into the commentary booth after the original commentator was dropped for accidentally revealing a surprise element of the opening ceremony. Petrecca had only been appointed director of Rai Sport last year but took over an audience of 9.2 million without much preparation.
His lack of preparedness and experience was immediately obvious as he welcomed viewers to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, instead of San Siro in Milan, where the ceremony was actually taking place. It only went downhill from there.
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Petrecca mistook Italian actress Matilda De Angelis for Mariah Carey and International Olympic Committee chief Kirsty Coventry for President Sergio Mattarella’s daughter Laura. Further mistakes followed as Italian social media lit up with complaints and jokes about the commentator’s performance.
But it was to get even worse as Petrecca offered his offensive takes on various topics as the ceremony went on. He mistook Brazil’s delegation for Bulgaria and then said “dance is in their blood.” He referred to African “voodoo rites”, said Spaniards are “always very hot” and that the Chinese “naturally … have phones in their hands”.
While his shambolic performance went viral on social media, sparking some good-humoured responses, there was fury within Rai. The company handed the job for the closing ceremony back to Auro Bulbarelli, the commentator who had the opening ceremony taken off them, before journalists at Rai went on strike.
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Rai has faced accusations that it pedals the agenda of Giorgia Meloni’s government and the fact that Petrecca is considered close to the Brothers of Italy party didn’t help. Three days after the embarrassment came a statement from Rai’s journalists.
“For three days now, we have all been embarrassed, without exception and through no fault of our own,” the journalists’ union said in a statement. “It is time to make our voices heard because we are facing the worst performance ever by Rai Sport during one of the most eagerly awaited events ever, the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.”
A representative of the Rai Sport journalists said they had asked Petrecca to hand the responsibility over to someone with more experience, only to be rejected. He has now fallen on his sword, but only after the damage had already been done.
