2 men are arrested during Ryan Lochte’s debut on ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Two men were arrested Monday after police said they stormed the “Dancing With the Stars” stage during a live production and attempted to confront disgraced Olympian Ryan Lochte.
The incident was not captured on camera at CBS Television City in the 7800 block of Beverly Boulevard. It occurred while judge Carrie Ann Inaba critiqued Lochte and his dance partner, Cheryl Burke.
Two men came onstage but were tackled by security guards, ABC News reported. The show abruptly moved to a commercial break, and afterward host Tom Bergeron said the ballroom dance show was disrupted by “a little incident.”
Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said the two men, Sam Sododeh, 48, and Barzeen Soroudi, 40, had tickets to be in the audience of the popular ABC show. Both appeared to have planned the confrontation, he said.
“The suspects posed as audience members, then changed clothes to display anti-Lochte T-shirts to disrupt the show,” Lopez said.
The men left the seating area and entered the stage in front of cameras. Neither man made physical contact with Lochte or Burke, Lopez said.
The men were initially detained by private security at the studio and later handed over to LAPD custody.
A group of women in the audience also wore anti-Lochte T-shirts and jeered as security detained the men, according to videos posted on Instagram.
Officers took the pair to the LAPD’s Wilshire Division to be booked on suspicion of trespassing, Lopez said.
After the scuffle, Lochte told Bergeron, “So many feelings are going through my head right now.”
Lochte said he was “a little hurt.” He added: “I came out here. I wanted to do something I’m completely not comfortable with, and I did.”
During the Olympics last month in Rio de Janeiro, Lochte initially said a cab carrying him and his swimming teammates was pulled over by armed men posing as police. His story changed and Rio police subsequently alleged the Americans had not been robbed at all, but had vandalized a gas station’s bathroom.
U.S. team officials banned Lochte for 10 months and he’s required to perform 20 hours of community service. He’s also barred from competing in the 2017 world championships.
Twitter: @MattHjourno.
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