During tonight’s season premiere of Dancing with the Stars, at least one man rushed the stage following Ryan Lochte’s foxtrot to “Call Me Irresponsible” with partner Cheryl Burke. While judge Carrie Ann Inaba providing her feedback to the couple, she was interrupted and can be heard addressing the situation, but the broadcast did not cut away from Inaba leaving the audience to wonder what was happening. They did cut to host Tom Bergeron, Lochte, and Burke after the incident so that Bergeron could through the show to commercial while they addressed the situation.
ABC News’ Jason Nathanson tweeted a picture of two men handcuffed outside of the show’s set at CBS Television City wearing Anti-Lochte t-shirts.
ABC has not yet commented on the situation. Lochte became controversial after his inaccurate betrayl of an incident at the Rio Olympics caused many to question his judgment and resulted in a ten month suspension from US Swimming. Upon revealing the cast of this season of Dancing with the Stars, ABC was quick to point out that he was signed for the show prior to the incident.
Following the show Burke said, ““I’m shocked and hurt for Ryan. He’s an amazing guy. He’s great, he’s kind and he’s just here working his butt off and trying to do what he’s supposed to be doing which is dancing. So I hope people give him a chance.”
UPDATE (10:30 PT):
We have received some more information regarding the incident. According to the Los Angeles Police Department the two men arrested were Sam Sododeh, 48, and Barzeen Soroudi, 40. They were detained by the show’s private security and arrested by LAPD upon their arrival. The two men were at the show as audience members, but changed their clothes into the anti-Lochte garb after they entered the soundstage. No dancers or celebrities were touched by either gentlemen. Video from Dancing with the Stars All-Access multi-camera service showed several other women in the audience wearing the anti-Lochte shirts and calling the swimmer a liar.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba shared her appreciation for the show’s security team on Instagram.
v