Sports Journos to Strike Over Boss' Olympic Blunders

Italian sports reporters say they're done staying quiet about the boss who couldn't get the basics right on one of the country's biggest stages. Journalists at state broadcaster Rai Sport are planning protests after sports director Paolo Petrecca's error-studded commentary during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics' opening ceremony, where he misidentified the stadium; confused 30-year-old Italian actor Matilda De Angelis with 56-year-old Mariah Carey; and mistook IOC official Kirsty Coventry for Laura Mattarella, the daughter of Italy's president and the nation's current first lady, as Sergio Mattarella's wife died in 2012.

DW.com notes that De Angelis put up a snarky social media post with a glam shot of herself after Petrecca's mistake, proclaiming, "PLEASE, CALL ME MARIAH." Per the New York Times, Petrecca also thought Brazil's delegation was from Bulgaria, and once he self-corrected, he noted that "dance is in their blood."

Rai's internal journalists union, CDR, called the broadcast "disastrous" and said staff will withhold bylines during the Games and stage a three-day strike afterward, arguing that the fiasco harms those working for the public service. Petrecca has led the sports division for 10 months, though he's been with Rai for a quarter century.