Gaffe-ridden Olympic commentary prompts Italy's Rai sport chief to resign

BBC Europe · Feb 19, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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7 hours agoPaul KirbyEurope digital editorRai TVPaolo PetreccaIt was a moment of national pride for Italians watching the glitzy opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics live on state broadcaster Rai earlier this month.But for Paolo Petrecca, whose gaffe-ridden commentary of the event went viral and became a national embarrassment, it signalled the end of his broadcasting career.Petrecca, the head of Rai Sport, has handed in his resignation after his litany of on-air errors broadcast to an audience of 9.2 million viewers prompted a brief strike by news journalists.His tenure will end at the end of the Games, and he will not be commentating on the closing ceremony.Petrecca had been a last-minute stand-in, because the original commentator was dropped for revealing a "sensational surprise" element of the ceremony by mistake.He is considered close to the Brothers of Italy party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and, while running Rai's news channel, presented her book I Am Giorgia to the public a year before she came to office.His broadcast had barely begun before he made his first mistake, welcoming viewers to the Stadio Olimpico, instead of Milan's fabled San Siro which had been chosen for the curtain-raising ceremony.What happened next was described by one reviewer as one of Rai's bleakest ever live broadcasts, when its flagship Rai 1 channel had an audience share of more than 46%.He introduced singer Mariah Carey, before correcting himself and explaining it was in fact Italian actress Matilda De Angelis. AFP via Getty ImagesMatilda De Angelis wrote "Please call me Mariah" after the opening ceremonyHis gaffe went viral, as Italians posted images of De Angelis with the slogan "here's the amazing Mariah Carey!" De Angelis herself went on social media to suggest sharing the rights to Carey's song All I Want for Christmas.When the camera fixed on President Sergio Mattarella, Petrecca referred to the president's daughter Laura beside him applauding, when the woman in the frame was in fact the president of the International Olympic Committee Kirsty Coventry.When the Olympic torch was handed to Italy's two highly successful volleyball teams, he failed to recognise men's volleyball captain Simone Giannelli, naming one member of the women's team.And he then resorted to national stereotypes, saying Brazilians had music in their blood, referring to African "voodoo rites" and Spaniards who were "always very hot", using the Spanish word calienti.Petrecca's disastrous performance was condemned by Rai's journalists' union Usigrai as a "serious blow" to the public broadcaster's image and the commentator who had been dropped for the curtain-raiser, Auro Bulbarelli, has since been given back the job for the closing ceremony.His decision to hand in his resignation was not unexpected and he will be replaced by colleague Marco Lollobrigida, considered one of the broadcaster's top sport presenters.But the affair has highlighted what critics argue is the government's attempt to pressurise the broadcaster at the expense of output quality, dubbing Rai TV as TeleMeloni.