COMMENTATOR’S CURSE

Reporters Go on Strike Over Boss’s Olympic Commentary Disaster

It couldn’t have gone much worse.

Journalists plan to strike after a calamitous commentator made a slew of embarrassing errors at the Milano Cortina Olympics Opening Ceremony. RaiSport director Paolo Petrecca’s stint on the mic on Friday featured an astonishing series of mistakes, including forgetting who people were and which city they were in. He welcomed viewers of the Italian network to Stadio Olimpico in Rome, even though the event was at San Siro in Milan. He thought well-known Italian actress Matilda De Angelis was the U.S. singer Mariah Carey, and even claimed that Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was the daughter of Italian President Sergio Mattarella. RaiSport’s internal union said in a statement Monday that journalists would strike for three days after the Games and wouldn’t put their bylines on stories. “We have all been embarrassed, no one excluded, and through no fault of our own,” it said. “It is time to make our voices heard because we are facing the worst-ever figure of RaiSport in one of the most eagerly awaited events ever.” According to the Associated Press, Petrecca, who was only included because the first choice had already resigned, has been removed from the February 22 closing ceremony schedule.