Lazio falconer fired for sharing obscene photos

Italian club Lazio have sacked the man responsible for the club’s eagle mascot after he posted a video of his own prosthetic penis online.

Falconer Juan Bernabé has operated the eagle, called Olimpia, since the 2010-11 season and flies the bird over the Serie A club’s Stadio Olimpico before matches.

However, Lazio, whose crest features an eagle, parted ways with Bernabe after he shared images and videos of his penis on social media following an implant operation.

Lazio said they were “shocked” by the images and that Bernabe had been sacked with “immediate effect”.

The Serie A club added that it was aware of the “general pain that the loss of the eagle will cause to fans at future home matches” but added that it was “impossible to associate our historic symbol with such a person”.

Bernabe defended his decision to publish the video, telling Radio24 he was trying to raise awareness of the operation and shared it on his private social media, adding that “being naked is normal, I grew up in an open naturist family”.

The 56-year-old was suspended by the club in 2021 for a fascist salute at the end of a match against Inter Milan.

Bernabe was filmed saluting and chanting “duce, duce”, which translates to “leader, leader” and is commonly associated with the former leader of Fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini.

“I did it and I don’t regret it because I admire Mussolini, he did great things for Italy, as Franco did for Spain,” Bernabe said in 2021.