Rai dismisses Enrico Varriale for just cause

Enrico Varriale, the well-known television face of Rai Sport, of which he was also deputy director, has been fired. This was announced by the Viale Mazzini company itself, which spoke of 'just cause' following the two criminal proceedings in which the journalist was involved, one of which reached a first-degree sentence convicting him of injury and stalking.

Last June, the judges of the Court of Rome had found the charges against the defendant, who had been accused by his ex-girlfriend of insulting and beating her since 2021, to be well-founded. The woman had denounced him accusing him of a series of verbal assaults, culminating in actual physical violence in Rome in August 2021. "I know I made a mistake that I will regret for the rest of my life," Varriale had said in the courtroom before the monocratic judge. "Women, as I have always said, are not to be touched even with a flower: equality exists in everything but this inequality, the man is stronger. But with the same clarity I affirm that everything the woman says is false. She is the one who jumped on me that August evening, I did not kick her. She says I put my hands around her neck but I had the phone in my hand, how could I? Then I threw it on the sofa. One thing hurt me,' Varriale added, 'if I had the lady in front of me I would apologise for the slap and for taking the phone from her, but I would also ask her why she said those things and how she can say I spat on her. Spitting is one of the nastiest things you can do'.

At the end of the first-instance trial, Varriale was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment with suspended sentence (whereas the prosecution had asked for a two-year sentence) and to pay compensation of EUR 6,000 to the victim. He must also periodically participate in a course for men perpetrators of violence against women. The journalist is also under investigation for another similar case: the accusation is again of stalking and injuries against a woman with whom he had a relationship. Varriale had already been suspended as a precautionary measure from public television in 2022. Following the suspension a year ago, the former deputy director of Rai Sport had sued the company for demotion. Now came the dismissal from Viale Mazzini and it is likely that a new dispute with the company will be opened.