Journalists at RAI Sport, the sport division of the state-owned Italian television, have announced a three-day strike after the Winter Olympic Games, as well as other measures to protest about the "embarrassing" live commentary of Paolo Petrecca, appointed as Rai Sport director in 2025, that included several mistakes that quickly went from amusing gaffes to public embarrassment.
CDR, the internal union representing Rai journalists, announced on Monday that from now until the end of the games, the reporters will withdraw their signatures and by-lines from all reports, links, and commentaries, "waiting for the company to finally acknowledge the damage the director of Rai Sport has caused". "For three days, we've all been embarrassed, no one excluded, and through no fault of our own", said the statement.
Petrecca, who directed Rai News between 2021 and 2025 before being appointed Rai Sport director last year, started his live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, held in Italy, by mistakenly naming the San Siro stadium in Milan "Stadio Olympico", seemingly mixing it with Rome's Olympic Stadium.
He then went on to mistake Matilda de Angelis with Mariah Carey (something the Italian artist acknowledged in an Instagram post), thought that IOC president Kirsty Coventry was the daughter of Italian president Sergio Matarella, and when athletes walked in the stadium, he said that "Spanish athletes are always very hot" and that Chinese athletes "always have phones in their hands".
Petracca's mistakes were quickly used as a political weapon, given the president of RAI Sport's closeness with Giorgia Meloni. The RAI Sport reporters' union said that "this isn't a political issue, as some would have you believe, but a question of respect and dignity for public service".