His gaffe went viral, as Italians posted images of De Angelis with the slogan “here’s the amazing Mariah Carey!” De Angelis herself went on social media to suggest sharing the rights to Carey’s song All I Want for Christmas.
When the camera fixed on President Sergio Mattarella, Petrecca referred to the president’s daughter Laura beside him applauding, when the woman in the frame was in fact the president of the International Olympic Committee Kirsty Coventry.
When the Olympic torch was handed to Italy’s two highly successful volleyball teams, he failed to recognise men’s volleyball captain Simone Giannelli, naming one member of the women’s team.
And he then resorted to national stereotypes, saying Brazilians had music in their blood, referring to African “voodoo rites” and Spaniards who were “always very hot”, using the Spanish word calienti.
Petrecca’s disastrous performance was condemned by Rai’s journalists’ union Usigrai as a “serious blow” to the public broadcaster’s image and the commentator who had been dropped for the curtain-raiser, Auro Bulbarelli, has since been given back the job for the closing ceremony.
His decision to hand in his resignation was not unexpected and he will be replaced by colleague Marco Lollobrigida, considered one of the broadcaster’s top sport presenters.
But the affair has highlighted what critics argue is the government’s attempt to pressurise the broadcaster at the expense of output quality, dubbing Rai TV as TeleMeloni.