Journalists in Italy are set to go on strike after a commentator made a string of bizarre mistakes during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, including misidentifying an Italian performer as Mariah Carey.
The Milano Cortina Games got underway with a typically spectacular opening ceremony on February 6.
One commentator caused confusion and anger among his colleagues with his errors during the coverage.
Paolo Petrecca was commentating on the ceremony for RaiSport and got off to a bad start by welcoming the audience to the Stadio Olimpico.
The ceremony was not at the famous stadium in Rome, it was at the San Siro in Milan, so he wasn’t even close on that one.
While Carey did perform at the opening ceremony, Petrecca was wrong when he claimed ‘the show continues with Mariah Carey’ as the camera showed Italian actress and singer Matilda De Angelis.
The 30-year-old seems to have taken it in good humous, posting pictures from the event on Instagram with the caption: ‘PLEASE, CALL ME MARIAH.’
Petrecca also saw Italian President Sergio Mattarella walk into the stadium and announce: ‘Mattarella … and his daughter.’
In fact, he was with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.
The stumbling commentator also clearly failed to recognise the members of the Italy’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams, despite both being world champions.
The show was covered by RaiSport in Italy, part of the state-owned network, Rai, broadcasting the Winter Olympics free-to-air.
Petrecca is a director of RaiSport and Italian publication Quotidiano report that he appointed himself to the role of commentator for the opening ceremony at the last minute.
RaiSport journalists have responded angrily to his performance, removing their bylines from articles for the rest of the Games and organising a three-day strike after the events finish.
A statement from the journalist’s union read: ‘For three days, we’ve all been embarrassed, no one excluded, and through no fault of our own.
‘It’s time to make our voices heard because we are facing the worst performance ever by Raisport during one of the most anticipated events of all time, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.’
Petrecca has now been removed from commentary duties for the closing ceremony on February 22.