Sports journalists from Italian public radio and television Rai called for a strike in reaction to gaffes by their department director, Paolo Petrecca, during the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games last Friday.
During the screening of the ceremony, the director of Rai Sport confused the Italian singer Matilda De Angelis with the American Mariah Carey, and Kirsty Coventry, president of the IOC (International Olympic Committee), with the daughter of the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella.
Petrecca also mistakenly called the San Siro stadium in Milan the “Olympic stadium”.
During the delegations’ parade, Petrecca resorted to clichés and prejudices when he stated that Spanish athletes are “always very hot” and that Brazilians “have music in their blood”. When talking about the Chinese, he said that “naturally many of them have cell phones in their hands.”
The Rai Sport journalists’ union said in a statement published on Monday that they would not sign their names to the Olympic production and that they would go on a three-day strike after the Games.
“It’s time to make our voices heard, because we are facing Rai Sport’s worst humiliation,” said the union.
“The company must recognize the damage caused by the director of Rai Sport”, adds the text.
The Italian press reported that Petrecca will not be able to comment on the Games’ closing ceremony.
Appointments to key positions at Rai are considered political. Petrecca has already been accused of bias in favor of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“The Olympic Games are a moment of maximum responsibility for the public broadcasting service. Instead, Rai offered its worst version: the one we know very well, ‘TeleMeloni'”, denounced the opposition Democratic Party in a statement.
Petrecca was previously director of Rai News.
