The premiere of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" last Monday did not go well for Ryan Lochte, who just made his TV debut. Lochte was in the middle of an interview when two men ran towards him and tried to ambush him on stage. Fortunately, the security were able to tackle them before getting any nearer.
According to ESPN, the ambush happened while Lochte and his partner Cheryl Burke were being given feedback by DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba. The couple had just finished a performance when the two men who were sporting t-shirts with a large 'NO' sign over Lochte's name leaped on stage in an attempt to get to the Olympic swimmer.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the identity of the two men after being taken into custody. Sam Sododeh, 48, and Barzeen Soroudi, 40, have now been charged with trespassing. Although the two men did have tickets to enter, they initially did not wear the anti-Lochte T-shirts. Around four or five women wearing the same shirts were also reported to have been part of the mini protest.
Before being arrested, one of the men justified his actions by saying, "We want to publicize that this is a bad decision to have a liar be publicized as a star."
The incident happened on live television which prompted an unplanned break. CNN reports that show host Tom Bergeron explained the intterruption by saying, "We had to go to break because we had a little incident."
Lochte and Burke were obviously shocked by what had occured. The swimmer later expressed his disappointment, sharing, "So many feelings are going through my head right now. I'm a little hurt."
A video of the attack has now started to go viral on Twitter. 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." Many stars have also expressed their support for Lochte, most especially his partner, Burke.
