The “Dancing With the Stars” season premiere was not without excitement Monday night as protesters ran up on the stage following disgraced US swimmer Ryan Lochte’s performance. CNN has confirmed that the two men were Barzeen Soroudi and Sam Sotoodeh.
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He also thanked the security team “for staying in shape”.
The 32-year-old is now serving a 10-month suspension from competitive swimming after falsely claiming that he was robbed at gunpoint while at the Olympics in Rio.
Audiences at home only say judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s reaction as the men approached, but now footage has been released by ABC of the protester stepping between host Tom Bergeron and the camera. The incident occurred as Lochte was receiving one of the judge’s critique of his dance routine.
Amber Rose agreed, saying, “Everyone makes mistakes in their life and it’s just not fair that somebody came out and ruined his moment”.
She said, “I think it was just saddening and disheartening more than anything because this is such a positive show and we’re all about putting people in a positive light”, she told CNN. “A little hurt. I came out here and I wanted to do something I was completely uncomfortable with, and I did”, Lochte said when the network returned from a commercial, according to several media reports. I’m a little hurt. “For somebody to want to ruin that for Ryan is just really, really hard”.
Some fans of Dancing with the Stars thought it was a bad idea for Lochte to compete. Bergeron also checked in with Burke to see how she was feeling. Then I looked at Cheryl, she just smiled and said: ‘You just did what you said you can’t do.
Robert Van Winkle, a.k.a. Get over the bull story, whatever. “He’s a hero and he’s a great guy on top of that”.
Jana Kramer told People, “Ryan was backstage and close to tears”.
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Former NFL star Calvin Johnson Jr. said that though the “unfortunate” incident may have put “a damper” on the swimmer’s “Dancing With the Stars” debut, he hopes that his fellow dancer will keep doing his best and not let it bring him down. “Nobody’s ideal. Everybody makes mistakes”, he told CNN.
