“Dancing With the Stars” wanted to grab attention by including Ryan Lochte in its new season, but an incident with protesters making a disturbance after the disgraced US swimmer’s first performance on Monday night’s show got Lochte’s stint off to an especially tense start. 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.
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When the show returned, “Dancing with the Stars” host Tom Bergeron explained they were interrupted by “a little incident” and thanked the ABC series’ security team “for staying in shape”.
The two protesters were tackled by security and arrested for trespass before being removed by security, ABC America and police said.
“We didn’t agree obviously with Walt Disney Company choosing Lochte to represent Americans”, Soroudi said in a video interview obtained by TMZ from AKM-GSI.
Watch above via ABC’s GMA.
The 25-year-old said he and his relative, fellow protester, Sam Sotoodeh, 59, were in Rio during the Olympics and saw how Lochte’s actions led to the mistreatment of USA visitors.
Although the show was live, the actual incident was not shown on camera, as decided by the producers of ABC.
There was drama on the dance floor on the season premiere of “Dancing with the Stars”.
Lochte appeared shaken by the incident on Monday night’s show in Los Angeles.
After the scene, Lochte told Bergeron, “So many feelings are going through my head right now”.
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. “I wanted to protect my home”.
In this clip you can see the general peanut gallery vibe at the taping, as well as some other Lochte protesters wearing shirts with his name crossed out in red.
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He was banned for 10 months, required to forfeit $100,000 in bonuses and will miss the 2017 world championships.
