“Hey, back off”, Ms Inaba said as the altercation was occurring off screen.
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The network went to a commercial break, but the camera briefly showed Lochte and his dancing partner, Cheryl Burke, as both appeared flustered and surprised.
In the aftermath of the incident, Lochte received support from Burke and others. When “DWTS” returned, Bergeron described the situation as “a little incident” and thanked the show’s security for “staying in shape”. Bergeron asked of the strong anti-Lochte sentiment, which has run deep ever since the swimmer was caught lying about details of a robbery during the summer Olympics in Rio.
ABC on Tuesday released video of the incident, which was not seen by audiences at home when Bergeron cut to a commercial on Monday night.
With all that, there was already controversy and drama surrounding Lochte’s initial performance on “Dancing With the Stars” Monday. The two men, Sam Sododeh and Barzeen Soroudi, wore anti-Lochte shirts and were part of a larger group of Lochte protesters, who were escorted out of the studio after Sododeh and Soroudi charged the stage. “GMA” aired video that wasn’t shown during the live broadcast of one of the men being tackled on stage by security.
As the judges were giving their critiques of his awkward, derpy-derp dance, two protestors broke onto the dance floor, and attempting to rush the defamed Olympian; meanwhile, four others shouted anti-Lochte chants.
The two protesters were being held pending charges of suspicion of trespassing.
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In Rio, Lochte had said he and three teammates were robbed at gunpoint but it was later revealed that they had vandalized a gas station after a night of partying. He also put the blame on one of the security guards, adding, “This gentleman here tackled me, hurts me, he has put these handcuffs on me that are hurting right now”. The United States Olympic Committee and USA Swimming announced recently that Lochte is suspended for 10 months, which knocks the swimmer out of competing in the 2017 world championship.
