In this photo provided by ABC, Cheryl Burke, left, and Ryan Lochte, perform on “Dancing with the Stars”, competition that begins with the two-hour season premiere live, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, on the ABC Television Network.
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The protest stems from Lochte’s highly-publicized Olympic Games incident in Rio de Janeiro when he lied about being robbed in order to cover up vandalism he and other members of the USA swim team allegedly committed at a gas station in Brazil.
At the end of the video, dancer Derek Hough ran into the audience where three other protesters wearing anti-Lochte T-shirts were sitting. They named the stage invaders as Sam Sododeh, 48, and Barzeen Soroudi, 40. Lochte claimed that Rio police robbed him and put a gun to his head, but he recanted that story after police claimed it didn’t happen.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba was critiquing Lochte’s performance, and although the disruption was not broadcast, Inaba can be heard saying, “Excuse me!”
Disgraced Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte was rattled when he was targeted by protestors during a live taping of reality series Dancing with the Stars.
According to police, the two men were legitimately ticketed for the event, but had concealed the “anti-Lochte” T-shirts they wore when they stormed the stage under casual clothing.
“They were arrested on the grounds of trespassing, this was a private person’s arrest as the security at the venue made the arrest”, an LAPD spokesperson said.
“We had to go to break because we had a little incident”, he said, although he didn’t clarify any further. “Hey, back off!” The cameras then cut to an unnerved Lochte, Burke, and host Tom Bergeron, who calmly threw to a commercial break. “I was really hurt when I saw that, and I was in shock”.
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When the show returned after the commercial interruption, after the protesters were removed, Bergeron asked Lochte how he was feeling. I have gotten so much love from everyone on the show, including my partner Cheryl [Burke], my fellow competitors, the producers, the security team and its fans.
