| Germano Mosconi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 November 1932 San Bonifacio, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Other names | These nicknames are used by his fans DIO (God) Colui Che Illumina (The One Who Brings Light) Il Vate (untranslatable) |
| Occupation | Sports journalist Anchorman (retired) swearer |
| Known for | Internet celebrity |
Se non bestemmio, guarda... (If I don't swear, watch out...)—Germano Mosconi
Mosconi has been a well-known television personality in northern Italy since the 1980s, through his sportscasting on Telenuovo in Verona. In 1982 he received the Cesare D'Oro international award for journalist merit.
He has received most of his notoriety for his short-temper and excessive swearing and blaspheming. His antics received much notoriety on the Internet. In 2004, he was the subject of an anonymous Internet video that made him known all over Italy and around the world. The video shows some of his off-air bloopers, featuring his irate reactions to various problems (people unexpectedly entering the studio, various noises, illegible writing on the news sheets he receives, or simply his lapsus linguae).
The ample use of swearwords, blasphemy, insults and other rude language both in Italian and Venetian, as well as other humorous antics, have made this video into a viral video. Very quickly, many Internet forums discussing Mosconi appeared, as well as fan clubs in Italy and in other countries, and comic cartoons featuring Mosconi's voice. However, Mosconi has not been receptive of his notoriety, declining every interview or proposal related to the video.
Mosconi is also an editor of the German-language magazine Gardasee Zeitung[1], dedicated to tourists of Lake Garda, and he is also a reviewer for the sportscasts on Telechiara in Padova (ironically, this channel is owned by the Triveneto episcopate). He also writes for Il Gazzettino and L'Arena in Verona.
As of February 2005, he has also worked as a member of the Hellas Verona[2] football club's staff, a position that he left in August[3].
Since the first off-air video appeared in 2004, fans of Mosconi started to appear all over Italy and especially in the students between 16 and 19 years of age creating a community which "works" mostly on the Internet creating pages on Nonciclopedia[4] (Italian version of Unyciclopedia) and Facebook groups as well as referring to themselves as "believers" following "The Mighty". Anyway all the names and aspects of this community that have been created to refer to Mosconi have the purpose of creating an oxymoron with the contents of his swearing (usually religious) in a hilarious way; an example of this is the nickname Il Vate (Iatalian noun for those people who predict the future for purposes like traditional medicine, fortune-telling and so on) or Il Santissimo (The Blessed) and the fact that his face is often used to substitute the one of the Pope in many photographs is another important aspect of this laugh-based community.