Things can happen really fast on live television — so fast, in fact, that it's hard to tell even what happened. Did someone rush Ryan Lochte on stage during Dancing With The Stars ? One minute, judge Carrie Ann Inaba was assessing Lochte's performance, and the next, the show cut to commercial and revealed a very shaken up Lochte and his partner, Cheryl Burke, upon its return. Everyone on the show and in the audience did a lot of "Um, what the hell just happened?" UPDATE: a spokesperson for BBC Worldwide Productions, the DWTS distributor, released a statement to Bustle about what happened, stating, "Two individuals stormed the dance floor tonight and were immediately subdued and escorted out of the building. The matter is now being handled by the authorities."
Earlier: When the show returned, host Tom Bergeron announced that they had had an incident and he thanked their security team for acting quickly. From what appeared to happen, halfway through Inaba's judging, someone started acting up on stage. She suddenly started speaking to a mystery person, saying, "Excuse me, excuse me! Off! Off!" Us Weekly reported that two Lochte protestors rushed the stage before security intervened and tackled them to the floor. Ryan Lochte's reps declined to comment.
Lochte expressed being hurt and upset at the incident, and who wouldn't be? Whatever transpired had to be so, so scary for Burke and Lochte. I can't even imagine what they were feeling. I don't care what Ryan Lochte did while in Rio — no one deserves to be treated violently like that, and the reaction from Twitter shows others agree with me.
In a statement to People, DWTS pro Lindsay Arnold commented on the incident, giving more insight as to what happened.
"I was backstage and when I heard the commotion I ran to the side of the stage and I was just in shock. I couldn't believe it was happening. I think it's a shame that people would feel the need to do that. Ryan is just a guy who is coming here to entertain and get a fresh start and it's sad that such a happy night of dance was disrupted like that."
Later, Inaba thanked security in an Instagram post.
No matter what you think about Ryan Lochte and his situation, there's no reason for someone to seemingly act out like that. Lochte is still a person. He may have made a huge mistake when he "over-exaggerated" (his words) about being robbed at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics, but that doesn't warrant an alleged violent attack while he was competing on DWTS. I hope that this incident doesn't put a huge cloud over his season — Lochte deserves to dance his swimming little heart out no matter what.
Images: ABC
