Italian club Lazio has fired the man responsible for handling the club’s eagle mascot after he shared a video of his own penile prosthesis online.
Falconer Juan Bernabe has been leading the eagle, named Olimpia, since the 2010-11 season. and flies over the bird over the stadium of Serie A club Olimpico before matches.
However, Lazio – whose crest features an eagle – fell out with Bernabe after he shared pictures and videos of his penis on social media following implant surgery.
Lazio said they were “shocked” by the images and Bernabe was sacked with “immediate effect”.
The Serie A club added that it was aware of the “common pain that the loss of the eagle will cause fans for the upcoming home games”, but added that it was “impossible to associate our historic symbol with such an individual”.
Bernabe defended his decision to release the video, telling radio station Radio24 that he was trying to raise awareness of the operation and shared it on his private social media, adding that “nudity is normal, I grew up in an open, naturist family”.
In 2021, the club suspended the 56-year-old for performing a fascist salute at the end of the match against Inter Milan.
Bernabe was filmed saluting and chanting “duce, duce”, which translates to “leader, leader” and is commonly associated with former fascist Italian leader Benito Mussolini.
“I did it and I don’t regret it because I admire Mussolini, he did great things for Italy like Franco did for Spain,” Bernabe said in 2021.
