“A little hurt but, you know, I came out here and wanted to do something that I’m completely not comfortable with and I did and I came out here with a big smile”. Afterward, he told journalists he first thought the disturbance was a joke.
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The video is everywhere this morning of what you didn’t see live on air!
Dancer Cheryl Burke had finished her routine with the Olympian and were receiving the judges’ feedback when two men – identified as Sam Sotoodeh, 59, and Barzeen Soroudi, 25 – ran onto the dance floor sporting anti-Lochte t-shirts. “But at the end of the day, we are all just so grateful that no one was more seriously injured”.
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 US visitors.
The embattled 12-time Olympic medalist came under fire in August during the Olympic games when he and three other U.S Olympic swim team members were accused of vandalizing and urinating on the premises of a gas station after a night of drinking and partying in Rio de Janeiro.
The chaos was not shown on television, but the camera cut to the show’s host Tom Bergeron who sent the show to commercial as an apparently flustered Lochte wiped sweat from his brow. The gold medallist lost all four of his sponsors and was suspended from competition for 10 months after he apologised for lying. He apologized for the incident, acknowledged exaggerating his story and said he lied when he said a gun was held to his head.
Bergeron continued, explaining that the room seemed shocked by the incident, and referred to the show’s various security precautions.
“There are always sceptics about everything but look, it wasn’t a bit”, he said. As the protestor turns, he is quickly tackled by security.
Kudos again to our fast-moving security team.
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Lochte and Burke got a respectable score of 24 for their dance but were topped by US Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez and her partner with 31.
