While participating in the show Dancing With The Stars, 12-time Olympic medallist Ryan Lochte had something thrown at him as a men from the audience rushed the stage.
A picture posted to ABC reporter George Pennacchio’s Twitter shows two men in handcuffs with shirts on with an anti-Lochte sentiment.
This is the cause of the #DWTS disruption. More to come. pic.twitter.com/0AMkY6P2a1
— George Pennacchio (@abc7george) September 13, 2016
According to several people on social media, Lochte and partner Cheryl Burke were listening to judge Carrie Ann Inaba critique their performance as the two men revealed their shirts before one ran on stage and threw something at Lochte.
Although the cameras stayed on Inaba, the following video shows the reactions and boos to the two men protesting Lochte’s presence on the show.
Here’s video of whatever just happened to Ryan Lochte on #DWTS pic.twitter.com/x8GAfa7aeT
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) September 13, 2016
2000 Olympic gold medallsit and friend of Lochte, Ed Moses, was in the audience and posted the following video to his Instagram page. In it you can see one man being tackled and handcuffed on stage.
Following the incident Lochte told host Tom Bergeron, “So many feelings are going through my head right now.”
Lochte said that he was “a little hurt” adding, “I came out here and I wanted to do something I was completely uncomfortable with, and I did.”
Lochte was named a contestant on the show after facing large criticism for lying about an incident at a gas-station in Rio during the Olympic Games this past August.
Great PR for Lochte and helps his transition from athlete to full blown celebrity. No need for him to go back to the pool as aging former Olympian. What else can he do sustain his celebrityhood post DWTS?
I’d say it’s a pretty brilliant move by PR expert/team.
Good for him, though!
The two idiots who got taken down have business ties to Brazil, although I think they are of Iranian/Persian descent.
http://swampfolly.com/blog/2016/09/13/meet-the-idiots-who-protested-ryan-lochtes-appearance-on-dancing-with-the-stars/
Your link is rubbish .
However you have decided to attack Brazil & Iran because of a DTWS show that they have nothi g to do with .
Why not the studio security who should not have allowed any hostile t shirts , signs or behaviour ?
G.I.N.A., please show me where I “attacked” Brazil and Iran? Do you deny that Sotoodeh has close business ties with Brazil?
I mentioned they appear to be of Iranian descent to stave off claims that they were Brazilian, nothing more.
I take no position on the adequacy of the studio’s security – I’m merely questioning Sotoodeh’s and Saroumi’s motives.
What’s your stake in this drama? Do you know Sotoodeh or Saroumi? Are you Brazilian? Do you believe the official police narrative about the incident?
unfortunately I can up only vote your comment just once, not the 1000 that I wanted to and I certainly cant up vote my own comment. I am sure that most are familiar with the saying about opinions and… everyone has one. what upsets me is when opinions are not based on facts and when opinions are stated on the WRONG forum. I think it would be totally inappropriate for this to become a pissing match about politics when there are a large number of message boards dedicated that topic. this is a SWIMMING message board and comments should be about swimming, not politics. I think the mods need to enforce this a little better. I bet if bobo posted… Read more »
Agreed! I really hate it when comments in this site become political. I want to read about swimming; there are plenty of other sites dedicated to political drivel.
GH at T&F News would have kicked Bobo out a long time ago.
Funny thing is, I believe Bobo also posts in and reads that message board. He is mostly well-behaved there.
yes he does post on t&fn but I don’t think he posts as Bobo and certainly doesn’t spout this kind of drivel. Funny how people show different types of faces in different situations! Anyway this is a swimming board and posters should at least be able to respect that fact.
Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be.
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday love was such an easy game to… Read more »
DWTS lately has been anything but stars period. He should never have been selected and frankly, they select people
for primary ratings not dancing abilities by any means. Extremely disappointed with this years contestants. Sad, but true.
The vitriol has been so intense, I’m beginning to worry for his safety. But, honestly, overall he seems like a super nice guy.Every time I see a comment from somebody who has met him personally, they all say the same thing. That he was really nice. Nice people are still human, though. They make mistakes and experience the same emotions as everyone else.
If I were him, I probably would have crawled into a dark hole and hid for the rest of my life. He’s decided be positive, put himself out there and move forward with his life, which is actually really impressive. I guess that’s why he’s an Olympian and I’m not.
Thanks for commenting, Ryan! Met you at a swim meet. You were so nice. Such a super nice guy. I think you are still human. You’ve really put yourself out there and are obviously trying to move forward with your life, which is actually really impressive.
Obviously DWTS was happy to have the publicity, but I don’t think they had to stage it–there is intense anti-Lochte sentient out there and all they really had to do is not trey too hard to prevent it.
I think joining DWTS was a smart move for Lochte. He is now pretty much dead meat as far as being a spokesman for a company that doesn’t want to offend anyone is concerned–but if he wants to become a high paid controversial figure in popular culture he looks like he could be in great shape.
Obviously DWTS was happy to have the publicity, but I don’t think they had to stage it–there is intense anti-Lochte sentient out there and all they really had to do is not trey too hard to prevent it.
I think joining DWTS was a smart move for Lochte. He is now pretty much dead meat as far as being a spokesman for a company that doesn’t want to offend anyone is concerned–but if he wants to become a high paid controversial figure in popular culture he looks like he could be in great shape.