US swimmer Ryan
Lochte, who was banned for 10-months following his Rio lying scandal, was
almost attacked on Dancing With The Stars live show.
The embattled
Olympian was on the dance floor with his dance partner Cheryl Burke for the
usual judges' session when 2 anti Lochte protesters crashed the stage in the
middle of judge Carrie Ann Inaba's critique.
Judge Inaba was
saying "This is a place for second chances. What you bring to this
ballroom is all we want to see," when she stopped midsentence as hecklers
could be heard in the background. She continued by saying "And I really do
feel that you brought your best to this ballroom. You have a long way to go.
Swimming is a -- excuse me! Hey, back off!" As 2 men crashed the stage
trying to reach Ryan Lochte.
An eye witness said
they were screaming 'liar' and one of them ran on stage towards Lochte but he
got tackled by security.
Inaba's facial
expressions, though she barely spoke, said volumes about what was happening in
front of her eyes.
Tom Bergeron the
host abruptly threw to commercial break, we saw a shaken Burke and Lochte
unsure of what just happened.
Another
eyewitness said that two male protestors
ran out onto the stage, tearing their shirts off to reveal anti-Lochte shirts
underneath while the swimmer was on the dance floor during the judges'
critique. Security immediately intervened, tackling them to the ground and
detaining the men with some kind of a restraint.
Another source
inside told ET that a row of protesters, wearing the same anti-Lochte shirts,
also stood up in the audience. The source says that Derek Hough spotted them
and had them thrown out. The source tells ET that Leah Remini's husband, who
was seated with the former DWTS guest host in the front row, also jumped up to help.
"First of all,
wow," Inaba said after DWTS returned from a long commercial break, still
in shock over what had just transpired. Bergeron addressed the scare by calling
it a "little incident." "Thank you to our security team for staying
in shape," he said.
When Bergeron asked
Lochte how he was doing after the scary scuffle, he responded: "I'm
good." "So many feelings are going through my head right now."
"A little hurt but I came out here. I wanted to do something that I didn't
feel comfortable with and I did and I came out here with a big smile."he
admitted, with a camera pan to his mom who was visibly emotional.
Source: ABC News
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