Ryan Lochte Targeted on “DWTS”

Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte was recently a target of an attempted ambush after his first performance with dance partner Cheryl Burke on the popular live television show “Dancing with the Stars.” Two protesters against the award-winning swimmer rushed onto the stage while Lochte was being critiqued by a judge on the show. They were then quickly stopped and detained by security and escorted out. Lochte has been a major topic of controversy since his participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The Olympics took place in the South American country of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, a large sea-side city. Ryan Lochte was one of the many swimmers to represent the United States throughout the competition. However, while he wasn’t swimming the 4 x 4 race, Ryan and a few friends were out finding trouble. On the early morning of Aug. 14, after a night of partying, Ryan Lochte claimed that he and fellow swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and Jimmy Feigen were robbed at gun point by men claiming to be police officers. It was later found out that Lochte lied about the incident and was called into questioning by Rio police along with the other swimmers, even though Lochte had by then left for the United States. It turns out that there was video evidence, as well as eye witness accounts to prove that not only was Lochte not robbed, but he and the other swimmers were also caught urinating in an alley by a local gas station, then vandalizing a sign that fell to the ground. Needless to say, once his story came back as false, he was not only deemed a liar, but also lost many sponsorships from major brands including Ralph Lauren.

Apparently blatantly lying to the authorities about a crime while representing the U.S. in a major international event does not settle well with many U.S citizens, seeing as there is now a protest against Lochte. Despite being in the midst of all this controversy, Lochte has managed to maintain his slot on “Dancing with the Stars.” This past Monday, after his first performance, Lochte was targeted while being judged on stage by protestors. When asked why they ambushed the swimmer, one of the protestors, Barzeen Soroudi, responded to ABC News by saying, “Our purpose is to get the message out that Lochte is a coward, a liar, and under Brazilian law, a criminal.” The second attacker added that he believed Lochte “embarrassed Americans on the world’s stage, and this was [their] form of protesting against that.” Not much is known about the two protestors except that they felt that Ryan Lochte’s actions in Rio “endangered Americans.”