ABC News radio correspondent Jason Nathanson later tweeted a photo of two men in handcuffs wearing anti-Lochte shirts.
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The protesters were apparently against the appearance of Lochte, an Olympic swimmer who made a bogus gunpoint robbery story during a boozy night out with some American teammates at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
The event was not captured on camera but it occurred while Judge Carrie Ann Inaba was criticizing Lochte and Cheryl Burke, his dance partner.
The video also showed at least four others in the audience wearing anti-Lochte shirts.
No dancers or celebrities were touched during the incident, and Sam and Barzeen are being held on $1,000 bail as of this morning.
Lochte has been the subject of negative publicity and public derision after he admitted to exaggerating claims that he and fellow US swimming teammates had been robbed at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics.
“The suspects posed as audience members, then changed clothes to display anti-Lochte T-shirts to disrupt the show”, said Lopez, adding that both men had tickets and appeared to have planned the protest. Security tackled them and removed them from the premises.
While the drama was unfolding on the DWTS stage, host Tom Bergeron cut to a commercial break.
Recently, the International Olympic Committee, United States Olympic Committee and USA Swimming suspended Lochte for 10 months, leaving him unable to compete in next year’s world championship in Hungary. Despite the rough start, Lochte claims he remains positive and proud of himself for taking a risk in competing in a show like “Dancing With the Stars”. Bergeron thanked the security team on the show. “I told them, ‘You all need to stop apologizing to me”.
Sotoodeh told journalists, “We were sitting in our seats and we walked out and said, ‘He’s a liar'”.
As CNN reports, what viewers didn’t see was two men who came onto the dance floor.
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Bergeron said “the mood in the room was definitely in Ryan’s corner after these guys were escorted out”.
