Director of state broadcaster Rai Sport welcomed viewers to wrong stadium and mistook Italian actor for Mariah Carey
Sports journalists at the Italian state broadcaster are staging protests in response to blunders made by the sports director throughout his commentary on the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Paolo Petrecca, who was appointed to the role at Rai Sport in 2025, first welcomed viewers to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico instead of Milan’s San Siro, where Friday’s ceremony was held, before mistaking the Italian actor Matilda De Angelis for Mariah Carey and Kirsty Coventry, president of the International Olympic Committee, for Laura Mattarella, daughter of the Italian president.
The gaffes were quickly mocked by viewers on social media and seized upon by members of the Italian opposition due to Petrecca’s reportedly close allegiance to Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government. De Angelis joked: “Mariah Carey and I are apparently the same person.”
CDR, the internal union representing Rai journalists, said on Monday the broadcaster’s sports journalists would stage protests, including withholding their bylines from their coverage of the Games and striking for three days when the event is over, in response to the sports director’s “disastrous coverage” of the opening ceremony.
