Italian Football Club Lazio FC Forced to Part Ways With It's Falconer After Sharing Pictures of His New Penis Implant
BBC - Italian club Lazio have sacked a man responsible for handling the club's eagle mascot after he shared videos online of his own prosthetic penis.
Falconer Juan Bernabe has handled the eagle, named Olimpia, since the 2010-11 season and flies the bird over the Serie A club's Stadio Olimpico before matches.
However, Lazio - whose crest is emblazoned with an eagle - have parted ways with Bernabe after he shared images and videos online of his penis on his social media after undergoing implant surgery.
Lazio said they were "shocked" by the images and that Bernabe had been sacked with "immediate effect".
The Serie A club added they were aware of the "shared pain that the loss of the eagle will cause to fans for upcoming home matches" but added it was "impossible to associate our historical symbol with such (an) individual".
It's so hard to find a reliable falconer these days. It's takes a special type of person to dedicate their lives to the art of falconry. To earn the trust of a majestic raptor requires years of tedious training. Years of dedication and patience to get your falcon (or in this case an eagle, but apparently you still call people who handle eagles 'falconers') to the point where it can properly represent an Italian football club the way Olimpia the Eagle has for the past 14 seasons.
Which makes it such an enormous punch in the gut when your trusted falconer undergoes big penis surgery and proudly blasts a post-op dick & face selfie out to the entire world on his Instagram story.
Due to the rarity of the profession, you always give a little more leeway to your falconer than you do to other employees. You're willing to put up with more from a quality falconer than you would an aging mid-fielder. As my boss Dave often references, Manny Ramirez pushed a traveling secretary down a flight of stairs and was batting cleanup the same day. Had Lazio FC's Matías Vecino performed a fascist salute following a match against Inter Milan, they might have cut ties and shipped him off to a club in Saudi Arabia. But those are the types of shenanigans you put up with when you have a trusted falconer.
BBC - The 56-year-old was suspended by the club in 2021 for performing a fascist salute at the end of a match against Inter Milan.
Bernabe was filmed making the salute and chanting "duce, duce", which translates as "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 as Franco did for Spain," Bernabe said in 2021.
However, posting your throbbing, surgically constructed penis on Instagram was a bridge too far for Lazio FC. Which is a little prude if you ask me. I understand the optics of having a Nazi dick pic attached to your Serie A football club. But if you put Bernabe the Falconer's fascism aside, all he was trying to do with his post was bring awareness to, and de-stigmatize the world of penis implant operations.
Bernabe defended his decision to publish the videos, telling radio station Radio24 he was trying to bring awareness to the operation and shared it on his private social media adding that "nudity is normal, I grew up in an open-minded, naturist family".
Olimpia the Eagle is the real victim in all of this. Olimpia did nothing wrong. If only his trusted handler could have kept his dick in his pants on camera, and maybe refrain from Nazi saluting while wearing the team uniform, he'd still be a gainfully employed bird. But Lazio FC aka The Young Eagles are now eagle-less. No bird of prey to fire up the crowd before kickoff. I imagine Juan Bernabe and Olimpia are a package deal. They two seem to have a special bond.
Andrea Staccioli. Shutterstock Images.Unless Bernabe is willing to sell the rights to his eagle to another falconer, Olimpia will likely never represent the team again. Who knows how long it will take them to find a replacement bird. I'm not even sure where you go about finding a good falconer, aside from that one Saudi Arabian prince.
Maybe start with him. He appears to own primarily falcons, but I'm guessing he has access to eagles as well. I'm sure he could point Lazio FC in the right direction.
Hopefully Olimpia's controversial owner does not completely prevent him from finding future bird work. He served Lazio FC faithfully for over a decade. He deserves another chance. Justice for Olimpia. You will be dearly missed.
Giuseppe Maffia. Shutterstock Images.