He commented on the Olympics in such a way that he had to resign. The boss of an Italian channel made mistakes live on air

And for Paolo Petrecca, whose error-filled broadcast quickly went viral and became a national embarrassment, it meant the end of his broadcasting career, writes the BBC.

Petrecca, the head of Rai Sport channel, resigned after a series of on-air mistakes heard by 9.2 million viewers. Due to this, news journalists even announced a short strike.

His tenure will end at the close of the Games, and he will not comment on the closing ceremony.

Petrecca was a last-minute replacement for another commentator who was suspended after he accidentally revealed a "sensational surprise" of the ceremony.

Petrecca is considered close to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party. While working for the Rai news channel, he even presented her book "I am Giorgia" a year before she became head of government.

His broadcast had barely begun when he made his first mistake, greeting viewers from the Olympico Stadium, even though the opening ceremony was held at Milan's legendary San Siro stadium.

Next, as one commentator noted, came one of the worst live broadcasts in Rai's history, when the flagship channel Rai 1 had a audience share of over 46%.

He introduced singer Mariah Carey, then corrected himself, explaining that it was actually Italian actress Matilde De Angelis.

Her name immediately became a meme: Italians published images of the actress with the caption "here's the incredible Mariah Carey!". De Angelis herself joked on social media that she was ready to share the rights to the singer's Christmas hit "All I Want for Christmas."

When the camera showed Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Petrecca stated that his daughter Laura was applauding next to him. In fact, it was the President of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry.

When the Olympic flame was passed to two successful Italian volleyball teams, he failed to recognize the captain of the men's team, Simone Giannelli, and named one of the female volleyball players.

After that, he resorted to national stereotypes, stating that Brazilians "have music in their blood," mentioned "African voodoo rituals," and called Spaniards "always very hot," using the Spanish word "calienti."

The disastrous performance was condemned by the Rai Usigrai journalists' union, calling it a "serious blow" to the broadcaster's image. Commentator Aura Bulbarelli, who was previously suspended, has already been reinstated to work on the closing ceremony.

Petrecca's decision to resign did not come as a surprise. He will be replaced by his colleague Marco Lollobrigida, who is considered one of the channel's leading sports presenters.

This scandal drew attention to critics' accusations that the government exerts pressure on the broadcaster, which harms content quality. Opponents even ironically call RAI "TeleMeloni."

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