The fallout from a confrontational interview on Rai 2’s daytime program BellaMà has strained relations between productions inside the broadcaster’s schedules and split the response along political lines, with journalists’ unions and the Five Star Movement demanding accountability while a Rai board member defended the host’s right to ask uncomfortable questions, Corriere della Sera reported.
Diaco Presses Ravagnani on Sexuality During BellaMà Interview
During the November 3, 2026 episode of BellaMà on Rai 2, host Pierluigi Diaco interviewed Alberto Ravagnani, a former priest of the Diocese of Milan and a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Ravagnani had expected to discuss his participation in the dance competition and his autobiographical book about leaving the priesthood, La Repubblica reported. Instead, the questions quickly moved into his intimate life.
“Sei attratto dagli uomini o dalle donne?” — “Are you attracted to men or women?” — Diaco asked, according to La Repubblica. Ravagnani appeared immediately uncomfortable: “Sono attratto dalle donne, però è una domanda che non ha un appoggio” — “I’m attracted to women, but it’s a question that has no basis,” he replied. Diaco then insisted: “You’re telling me you didn’t experience sexuality during the priesthood, but now that you’re no longer a priest you’re experiencing it. I don’t know if you’ve already experienced it with a person. Yes or no?” Ravagnani responded, “Mi stai mettendo in difficoltà, portandomi su un terreno dove chiunque qui sarebbe in difficoltà” — “You’re putting me in difficulty, taking me onto ground where anyone here would be in difficulty” — without prompting Diaco to back down, La Repubblica reported.
Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that Diaco justified his line of questioning by telling Ravagnani, “You chose to expose yourself publicly and therefore you have a duty to clarify things for us.” The exchange spread on social media and inside Rai, the outlet reported.
Unions Demand Rai Uphold Dignity in Interviews
The day after the broadcast, the Cdr of Rai’s daytime journalists, the Cpo Rai, and the Cpo Usigrai issued a joint statement expressing solidarity with Ravagnani, Usigrai reported. The statement said freedom to ask questions, even uncomfortable ones, must go hand in hand with respect for a person’s dignity and private sphere, and that a guest’s visible discomfort requires listening and sensitivity — insistence on intimate matters cannot become an element of spectacle or turn into morbid, aggressive behavior toward interviewees. The public service, the unions said, has a duty to guarantee free, respectful, and never humiliating debate.
Members of the Five Star Movement on the Rai Vigilance Commission went further, calling the exchange “un’aggressione verbale in piena regola” — a full-fledged verbal aggression — that aired on public service, and asking whether anyone in Rai’s leadership felt a duty to distance the broadcaster from a show of such a low level, in which a guest was knowingly annihilated with prurient, indecent questions, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported. The M5S lawmakers said the minimum that could be expected was public apologies from Diaco and from those responsible for his program.
Milly Carlucci, the host of Dancing with the Stars, defined what happened as unacceptable and expressed full solidarity with Ravagnani, and Fiorello also criticized the interview, Corriere della Sera reported.
Rai Board Member Frangi Defends Diaco’s Right to Ask Direct Questions
Federica Frangi, a member of Rai’s board of directors from the Fratelli d’Italia party, took the opposite view, defending the host, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported. She called the polemics against Diaco frankly disproportionate: a journalist has the right to ask uncomfortable, direct, and provocative questions, and the interviewee has the right not to answer — but that right cannot become a prohibition on asking questions, she said. Frangi argued that Ravagnani had freely chosen to tell his personal and spiritual story in public, so it was legitimate for an interview to probe its more intimate aspects, and that the debate could be about tone, not about putting the freedom to question on trial. She also defended Diaco’s interview style and the program’s ratings in its time slot, saying the freedom to make television without pre-set schemes must be protected and that Rai must defend pluralism rather than feed conformism.
Episode Strains Relations Between Rai Productions
The incident has cracked relations between the productions involved and triggered tensions inside Rai’s programming schedules, Corriere della Sera reported on November 4, 2026.
What Has Not Been Answered
As of November 4, 2026, neither Diaco nor Rai’s top leadership had issued the public apologies the Five Star Movement demanded, and the broadcaster had not said whether any disciplinary or editorial step would follow the unions’ statement.
FAQ
Who is Alberto Ravagnani?
He is a former priest of the Diocese of Milan who left the priesthood and is a contestant on Ballando con le Stelle, and he recently published an autobiographical book.
What exactly did Pierluigi Diaco ask him?
Diaco asked whether Ravagnani is attracted to men or women and then pressed him with a yes-or-no question about whether he had already experienced sexuality with a person since leaving the priesthood, La Repubblica reported.
Has anyone at Rai apologized?
No. As of the November 4 reports, the M5S was still demanding public apologies from Diaco and from those responsible for the program, and no apology had been announced, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported.