On Friday, US Olympic swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were finally allowed to leave Rio after Brazilian police forced them off of a plane several days earlier. James Feigen was also allowed to leave after “agreeing to donate” $11,000 in exchange for his passport. Once those three swimmers were out of Brazil, Ryan Lochte issued an apology, took responsibility for what happened at a Rio gas station, and he also maintained the story that he and the other swimmers were held at gunpoint and robbed/extorted for money. Shortly after Lochte’s apology – which seemed to be carefully crafted by a team of lawyers – we also learned that Lochte had hired Matthew Hiltzik, one of the biggest and best crisis managers in the business.
I would think that the crisis manager probably recommended that Lochte give an interview immediately to try to explain what happened. There was no possibility of “getting ahead of the story,” but there was/is a possibility of simply asking to be forgiven and telling his side. Which Lochte did – Matt Lauer flew back to the US to speak to Lochte face-to-face, and the first part of the interview aired Saturday night. The second part will air tonight on NBC. Here are the two clips that are online:
In between taking full responsibility for lying/exaggerating and tearing up about “letting my team down,” Lochte again maintains that they were held at gunpoint:
“Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion or us paying just for the damages — we don’t know. All we know is, there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money. We just wanted to get out of there. There was a gun pointed in our direction, we were all frightened, and we wanted to get out of there as quick as possible.”
Ryan Lochte is an moron, absolutely. He even says his actions “immature,” which is putting it mildly. But this brings me to a question I’ve been wondering about for days now. What if Lochte had told the truth from the beginning? What if he had basically told what really happened? Would that have been a sympathetic story?
Gunnar Bentz also made a statement once he was allowed to leave Rio – go here to read.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.
If he looks like a douche… and talks like a douche…
Listened to more of this interview on TODAY this morning and have to say that, in addition to being a douche, he’s just about the most inarticulate speaker I’ve ever heard.
He’s been charged with urinating in public before and then does it again in Rio when he’s representing the U.S.–despicable. He’s got bigger issues than merely being “immature” to quote him.
Hey, I’ve pissed in an alley behind a bar a few times… no one’s perfect! (Nor are we classy.)
BabyJane, I’ve never understood people that do that. I’ve been very drunk before and never, NEVER felt the need to ‘relieve myself’ in public.
I’d rather hold it ’til my kidney’s explode.
A douche who quickly died his hair back to normal and not the gray he had been sporting in Rio.
Wtf does “over exaggerate” mean? Is it possible to under exaggerate? Or moderately exaggerate?
Well, it was him and his family that turned this into a mega deal giving an interview even before making his statement, so reap the whirlwind, bae. I hear the other guys are pissed that he not only started this mess, he helped ramp it up and then deserted them as soon as he realised that he would be exposed. Bentz statement confirms that. Anyways, my sympathies to those three guys, especially since they still have a few more Olympic games in their future and he is basically done at his age.
Yeah… I was out here believing Lochte because there seemed like there was no reason to lie or “over exaggerate”. I assumed that while he may have been drunk and fuzzy on details, there was no reason to make up a story like this. Whelp. Here we are.
Occam’s Razor: usually the simplest explanation is correct. Who’d have thought that Lochte damaged stuff at a gas station, got into a fight with the security guards (which was why they pulled the guns in the first place), then told his mom, then confirmed to news sources and gave interviews giving a completely fabricated story. This is on par with the runaway bride who called in her own kidnapping. What on earth compels people to make up stuff like this?
For me, that’s even worse than the original ”over-exaggeration” – the fact that once Lochte realized the sh*t was about to hit the fan, he high-tailed it out of Rio as quickly as possible, leaving his teammates (who, as he admitted to Matt Lauer, did NOT participate in ther vandalism) holding the bag.
“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”
Sorry, your comment reminded me of that quote so much lol
I think you can in Europe?
Yes to all of this
Frankly, I’m frequently whelmed. It’s my version of meh. I fully recommend it’s usage. It’s snark in the best possible way. Literally.😂
This was so blown out of proportion for no reason. I don’t think Lochte even wanted this to be public but his mum first spoke about it. I’m glad that all the people who are hard core defending Lochte now see that he wasn’t telling the truth.
Except for Billy Bush. He still seems in denial and his argument with Al Roker was hilarious
The interview he gave on the beach in Rio came within minutes of a State Department meeting where they were all told to just shut up. The meeting ended, Ryan went across the street and was telling his wild story to the world within minutes. He is a complete moron.
Definitely not a fan of him anymore. Meanwhile, my love for Al Roker continues to grow. And I put Billy Bush in the same category as Ryan.
Yes! I was clapping for Al Roker when I watched that clip. He was having NONE of Billy Bush or Lochte’s bull ish. And it was so patronizing of Bush to tell him to calm down. He lied. Stop saying over exaggerated or embellished. This 32 year old kid LIED.
EXACTLY. I can’t with those who are handling him with kiddy gloves, there is no such thing as a 32 year old man who told a horrific lie and really tried to get away with it. There is no such thing as a 32 year old kid.
“There is no such thing as a 32 year old kid.” >>> Well, there is, but this person isn’t an Olympic swimmer. They have mental disabilities which limit their capacity. Lochte is just an idiot and over-privileged.
EXACTLY. And considering all the faux ‘outrage’ from Bush about Gabby Douglas his ‘boys will be boys’ and telling folks to calm down. A 32 year old MAN lied and tried to get away with it, vs someone who frowned in one 3 second camera shot. It was gross.
Is NBC so out of touch that they think people wanted more of Billy Bush outside of Access Hollywood? Billy Bush is the worst, possibly even more smug and annoying than Matt Lauer.
BUNNYBEAR I agree! Al Roker was resolute about Lochte lying. White privilege, plus “boys will be boys.” GROW UP, pants on fire.
If only someone in the media could get this agitated about Donald Trump.
First of all, Billy Bush got to where he is in the world because he is George W’s first cousin. This guy knows all about white male privilege, he owes his entire life to it.
John Oliver did a brilliant clip last night of Ryan Lochte saying words. Long past time for this jerk to grow up.
John Oliver was GREAT. The clips they had of Lochte prove he is as dumb as toast.
Interviewer (nice soft question): “What would you say defines you?”
Answer: “Ryan Lochte.”
He needs to retire to a deserted island somewhere in the South Atlantic where he can spew his incessant woes and bore the penguins into a coma.
Why punish the poor penguins?
As penance for your I’m certain unintentional words against penguins I sentence you to multiple viewings of Happy Feet & readings of Bloom County. I loves me some Opus😇
Girlbye.gif
He is way too old to have thought that this was an okay thing to do. Plus who lies to their mum about what they’ve been up to at 32?
Looks like Ryan swims in the shallow end of the gene pool. His stupidity and arrogance cancel any bit of hotness.
They weren’t extorted or held up. They were detained by security guards and told they had to pay for the damage they had caused or the police would be called.
The armed guards only drew their weapons after a) two of the athletes continued to leave after being asked to stay by the guards and b) Lochte continued to behave aggressively. We know this from statements by one of the athletes and by the passer-by who stepped in to translate.
Since the passer-by translated what was happening for them, we know that the athletes were aware they were paying compensation for damage and that by doing this they would escape arrest and possible prosecution by the police for their antisocial behaviour,
The situation couldn’t have looked particularly threatening because a passer-by felt quite happy to step in and translate. Not many people mosey up to armed robbers offering to explain to the victims what exactly is happening. You know – because they probably don’t want to get shot or robbed themselves.
Feigen didn’t make a donation in exchange for his passport. He made a donation in lieu of a prosecution and fine for making a false statement to the police. This is standard procedure in the Brazilian legal system for making a false statement or some other minor crime. The other two athletes didn’t make false statements so they didn’t need to choose between making a donation or being prosecuted.
All in all, four US athletes got wasted and committed some petty crime while in Brazil, representing their country. They were let off with paying for damage caused and making a charitable donation instead of being prosecuted. Instead of being thankful for this, Ryan Lochte told tall stories and came close to causing an international incident. Charming.
To answer your question, though: as Bridget hereabouts points out – the IOC would probably have done anything to stop Lochte and the others saying ANYTHING. They don’t want bad publicity, whether it’s for the athletes or the hosts. If Lochte had just not told his mother, we would have been none the wiser about any of it. The IOC would have pulled out all the stops to prevent the athletes, the gas station owner, the security guards, any witnesses, from even mentioning anything had happened. They could very easily have got away with it.
+1000 Well said, Sixer!
Well said!
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
This is a great post. Just one thing though, telling his mum wasn’t the point of no return. He had plenty of opportunity to pull back after that. And he could have done it with little embarrassment (a tweet saying “mum misunderstood me”, for example). instead, he didn’t just double down, he started giving embellished interviews. Like when he claimed they were pulled over or that a gun was put to his head or that they took his money (it was the other guys that paid for damages) and also his wallet. That’s where I stop reading “forgiveable mistake” and start reading intentional malice.
I don’t know if I read intentional malice. More stupidity, entitlement and narcissism. I doubt if he even considered any party traduced by him. He didn’t even consider his team-mates, let alone the business owner, the security guards or the nation and people of Brazil!
Definitely. If when the first reports came out he had just said “That’s not how it happened. I lied to my mom about a shitty thing I did and I’m sorry.” I would find him a lot more sympathetic. It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up, you know?
sad and I actually tended to believe him because I couldn’t believe anyone would lie about such a thing. what a careless dumba##. i agree – he could have walked back his “over exaggeration” to his mom but the really dumb thing was then embellishing and sticking to his story. because he’s the Olympian athlete and this third world country should just take it?
I don’t know that I would say “intentional malice” so much as that I think he was seduced by the spotlight. I think he saw the camera on him and liked feeling special. It’s not a good reason, and it doesn’t change the outcome, but then again who knows.
You’ve summed it up perfectly Sixer! Moral of the story is don’t lie to your mother, especially if your a mommy’s boy like Lochte
+1
I didn’t understand the outrage on Friday over all of this when it was clear these guys broke a law or two. No one deserves to be held up by guns, but they also should respect the country they are in as well. It just all struck me as very entitled. I mean, it’s Lochte so I shouldn’t be surprised, he always was a tool.
TY Sixer. I don’t understand why some people are still not understanding what happened.
I love Celebitchy but sometimes, for stories like this one, it’s better to also consult and read newspapers. The New York Times and Guardian have been running this story for some time now so I don’t understand why I’m still reading that Feigen had to give Brazil $10800 for his passport, or that they were robbed/exorted, when 1) Feigen was avoiding being prosecuted for giving a false statement, and 2) a person stepped in to translate to make sure these 4 grown up men understood what they had done and why the security guard was telling them to stop.
Agree and agree. They behaved badly and made up a story to cover it up.
Haha, I am the resident IOC conspiracy theorist. Though apparently in this case the IOC was just giving us a good life lesson: Don’t Let Ryan Lochte Talk.
I just hope Lochte pays up the $11k himself.
Haha. But I agree with you. If it had been up to the IOC, we wouldn’t have known a thing about it. They would cover up anything they could. But even they can’t hide a complete plonker like Lochte.
He should at least pay half – Feigen may have signed the fib at the police station but it was Lochte who made the fib up. By the time the authorities spoke to the other two, the game was up!
An excellent summation, Sixer.
I just saw that Speedo announced it’s ending their sponsorship of Lochte. I suspect Ralph Lauren and Airweave will follow suit this week.
I hope the Olympic Committee will have the balls to ban him from participating in any future games. His actions were inexcusable.
This is exactly what I said last week, but either people didn’t believe me or took no notice.
Thanks for the summary Sixer. Well written and informative.
+1000! Well summarized.
I read they face disciplinary action from the Olympic committee now.
I hope he does get banned from competing for the USA ever again. A gymnast for The Netherlands got drunk in Rio, he was sent home immediately and not allowed to compete. What Ryan did is far far worse and he should face dire consequences.
Not the others, though. I would like to see them given a chance to rectify why they were mislead and manipulated by Ryan, because that’s how I read this situation. 20 years old, in Rio, and perhaps a little in awe of Ryan. I’d give them another chance.
Also, they were’t forced off a plane. They were escorted off due to a judge’s order. Nothing wrong with complying with the laws of the country you are visiting.
I hope Lochte gets banned forever, too. Too bad he won’t–probably just a slap on the wrist. Sad because all his “coming clean” about this incident is not because he has genuine remorse, but is merely a PR effort to save fat endorsements.
Sadly, he’s 32 and would be 36 by the next olypmics which is ancient in swimming. Even with getting banned, he’d most likely be to old to compete then anyways.
He should be punished but I don’t think that should include a ban. I mean, if it is OK in some sports to beat your wife or kill dogs or drive around with a dead body in your car it seems crazy to ban Ryan for being a lying idiot. Plus, we still let athletes that have tested positive for banned drugs multiple times in the games.
You’re not even banned forever if you fail a drug test (it’s a 2 year ban). That’s not in any way a proportional punishment.
I actually feel sorry for him. Personally (and I know I’ll get shouted at for this), I am inclined to agree with him that he was robbed. Should he have paid for damages? Yes, absolutely. But the use of a gun changes it from compensation to extortion in my book. It doesn’t matter what the intended purpose of the money was, the fact that the threat of violence was used to obtain it, makes its robbery in my view.
Anyway, I guess all that is immaterial now. What’s really surprised me is the level of hate for him. I’m not saying that lying is OK, but to keep it in perspective, he didn’t murder anyone, but from the reactions he’s received you’d have thought he’d killed innocent women and babies.
Also, from what I read, he didn’t slag off Rio, but I guess his account of events influenced people’s view of what Rio is like. But from other news stories I’ve seen, and personal robbery accounts that my Brazilian colleague has told me about, it doesn’t seem exaggerated to say that Rio is quite a dangerous city. I don’t think the media massacre of Lochte will change that.
I guess it begs the question- why was he in that situation in the first place?
I feel sorry for people who, beyond circumstances of their own volition, find themselves in the middle of a criminal act. Like actually being robbed at gunpoint.
No shouting from me, but I do want to gently suggest you save your feeling sorry for those who aren’t privileged internationally famous white males who get drunk and make things up for compensate for some deep seated insecurities that no gold medals will ever compensate for. Just saying 🙂
I kind of agree. I’m not defending what Ryan did, but the amount of hate seems disproportionate to what he did. Also, everyone keeps focusing on Ryan’s lies or exaggerations, but nobody is really talking about how the Brazillian officials totally exaggerated the vandalism story. They claimed that the swimmers broke a bathroom door, cracked a mirror and tore down a soap dispenser. According to 2 of the swimmers (who sounded truthful to me) , they never even entered the bathroom, and nobody broke the door. Of course, they should be responsible for the damage, but there’s a big difference between ripping a poster off the wall and peeing in the bushes vs demolishing a bathroom.
That said, I do think Ryan is a huge jerk for the way he treated his teammates. He was the one who did most of the vandalism. Then he lied to the press about it, and left the other guys hanging as he fled the country. He’s the oldest and should have been a leader, not a troublemaker. I hope the young swimmers don’t face too much consequence for this.
Well, okay, but he’s a full grown man who decided that he was going to destroy someone else’s property. Although it’s universally understood that such behavior is wrong, apparently this man/child needed someone to put a gun to his head for him to fully comprehend what the rest of the world already knows.
I think he’s deserving of what he is getting, but I wonder if a lot of the hate is people transferring their frustrations at the garbage white dudebros get away with? I remember at University the white, well-off jocks got away with damn near anything: vandalism, cheating on assignments, treating their girlfriends like sh*t. It was mind boggling. Maybe there is some schadenfreude in finally seeing one get his? (I hope this comment makes sense – I haven’t finished my coffee yet…)
The guards only took their guns out when the swimmers tried to go away.
If I remember correctly even Lochte admitted they wanted to go after they broke the poster, they got in the taxi and told the driver to go but he didnt, thats when the guards came.
Apparently in the video one of the guys offers money before being sitted on the curb too, so it seems like they werent extorted or robbed at all.
Brazil has problems with violence, but this doesn’t give anyone the right to create a fanfic about a robbery.
I agree with you too. I have been Team Lochte for many years because I think his talents were overshadowed by Phelps. He’s not the brightest light down the hall, and his latest actions proved that. I am not condoning what he did AT ALL, but I think people are ready to lynch him for it. Even talking about taking his medals. I think that is going a little too far. Most of these people forget that golden boy Phelps was arrested TWICE for DUI (2004 and 2014). He DROVE DRUNK. Put peoples lives in danger by being on the road. No one wants to lynch him. No one wants to take his medals away. Yes, Lochte needs to be punished, but stop over reacting so much. There are more terrible things going on this world than a 32 year old man-boy lying.
The problem is that Phelps screwed up on his home turf and answered for it in a court of law. Lochte and his friends created this mess in the middle of the Olympics when the world’s eyes were on Rio, lied about it in a way that took advantage of international perceptions of a country with economic and social issues, and then bailed when the shit hit the fan, leaving his teammates to deal with it. Less dangerous crime, sure, but a pretty shitty way to deal with the repercussions. I don’t think he should have his medals taken away, but I do think he needs to suck it up and accept the consequences.
I give props to Phelps for changing his life around, and perhaps his skills as an athlete makes it easier for me to give credit to him for transforming from his past mistakes (I’m probably looking at him as the sum of all his parts in the way I probably wouldn’t with another celebrity), but I do think he lucked out in not killing anyone. Had he actually killed someone, all of that admiration for him as an athlete would be gone in a millisecond. So I do feel some ambivalence towards the Lochte situation in that I think he did the wrong thing and won’t deny that he did the wrong thing, but it’s hard for me to get worked up in a very outraged way in the manner of some media commentators when I compare what Lochte has done in comparison to the wrong things done by other people (probably because some of what he said doesn’t appear totally untrue. If he had 100 percent lied, I would feel less ambivalence; it feels like the truth is somewhere in the middle on both sides. Neither side appears to be completely lying; neither sides appears to be completely telling the truth either).
Agree with you all. The level of hatred aimed at all four, but especially Lochte (whom I never actually liked) is making me feel sorry for all of them. Also, I keep reading that the issue here was mainly the lying. Well, Brazilian authorities also lied. Remember how when this first broke it said they “trashed” or “destroyed” a bathroom? Well journalists went there and found no damage to the bathrooms. The “poster” that Lochte pulled down wasn’t a piece of art, it was a sandwich ad and the only damage to it was a crack in the plexiglass of about an inch and a half.
About relieving themselves in the bushes, is there anyone who hasn’t had that kind of emergency? Even I have had a couple of those emergencies, and I am a middle-aged mom who rarely went to clubs or got drunk.
Brazilians also denied that they were stopped and held at gunpoint. In my comment to one of these stories that was posted over the weekend, I posted a link to the gas station surveillance that clearly showed one of the guards sticking his hand with a pistol inside the window of the cab. It also had a blip in it that showed that 3 minutes of the video had been cut. Why has that not been explained? Why hasn’t Brazil released an unedited version, I’m certainly not the only person that noticed it.
I also thought Feigan was absolutely being extorted. Eleven grand for this nonsense? RUFKM? And get this, as soon as they let him go, and fortunately he got the hell out of there, the prosecutors asked the judge to take his passport away from him AGAIN and not let him leave until the “fine” was raised to $50 grand!!! The judge agreed and issued the order but Feigen was gone. You know what? I think that’s robbery. And I think that while the guys look dumb or oafish, Brazil looks really, really bad. If they had any class, they would have made a brief statement and brushed it off. Stormtrooping Bentz and Conger off their plane, making them look like criminals, and fining Feigen $50 grand for “saying he was asleep in the cab” is outrageous in my view.
And why aren’t we talking about what happened to the Australians?
Oh, I saw another website post that same video I linked to over the weekend, and the part with the guard sticking in gun in the cab at the swimmers was removed!!!
@suzyj I feel the same way, kind of. I can’t believe the heat he is getting over this. He’s not a monster or an awful criminal. He’s an idiot who got drunk, got held up at gun point over something he shouldn’t have been in a foreign country with a language issue. Now he’s being treated like he burned a village to the ground that was full of infants. I roll my eyes so heard reading some of these comments of people who ‘hate him now’. Shesh, harsh much?? I still think the ‘gas station security guards’ or whoever they were acted out of line. Guns and on the ground for nothing?? Also, I have only seens a pic of the door that wasn’t broke but the sign on the door advertising sandwiches was bent???? Where’s the ‘trashed bathroom’ they speak of? No video of it? No pictures? TMZ went into the bathroom right after and couldn’t find anything other than a nasty public bathroom. America is full of them. Lol.
People, please realize this guy simply isn’t the villain everyone wants him to be. Hate him for being dumb, but don’t hate him for being a monster.
I agree; whilst I don’t endorse lying (unless it’s about my weight, in which case that’s totally acceptable), or vandalism, I’m surprised at the level of hate and vitriol he’s received. He doesn’t seem terribly bright, but I don’t think he’s an evil criminal monster by any means. I think there are people who have done far worse things who have received far less hate. I guess I just find that all a bit odd really. At least people on this site have been pretty civil (from what I’ve seen) in expressing their views, even if their views are in opposition. Makes a nice change.
I saw an article that had the following headline: “Ryan Lochte, Donald Trump and the Steep Decline of American Democracy:.”
Ryan Lochte did something wrong, but all I could think was that Ryan Lochte is not a threat to American democracy the way Donald Trump is! The headlines comparing Lochte to Trump are making me feel somewhat bad for Lochte because the headlines are so extreme, and I don’t think he’s done the kind of misdeeds that Trump has done repeatedly. I wouldn’t say I feel sorry for him the way I would for a child in a war-torn country, but I don’t necessarily feel the level of outrage at him that Al Roker does either.
I feel kind of bad that I do have a grain of sympathy for him. 12 Olympic medals and this will be how he’ll be remembered. His own stupid fault of course.
Nice crisp business shirt and hair colour change, privileged man-child dudebimbro.
“dudebimbro”
Brilliant! LOL!
Welp, if the swim cap fits… 😉
Haha he changed that hair reeeeeeaal quick.
Embarrassed your country. Check.
Lied your arse off. Check.
Ran out on your mates. Check.
Hope he saved his money because he’s done.
As Bugs Bunny would say, ‘What a maroon.’
I love that the crisis manager told him to get rid of the stupid peroxide white hair.
LOLOLOOL did you all have to go to the Chiropractor over the weekend the way you all were bending over backwards capping??!! LOLOLOOLOOOLO
AL is my new hero! http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/al-roker-calls-ryan-lochte-a-liar-twitter-goes-nuts-over-video-w435443
** Of Note: his hair is back to a very flattering “My Lawyers got calls from the government about avoiding a further international incident” shade, styled in that all American “Lawyered Up Good Boy” look
I don’t even feel a little bit sorry , he coasted on people’s well nourished preconceived condescending notions about Brazil and his White BOYness (at 32, mind you)
You were completely correct from the start in your assessment ..I did not comment that day but noted the responses you were getting which made me sad ..
Hit the nail on the head!!
+1
@QQ – I haven’t seen the Al Roker video, but I heard about it and my reaction was the same as yours, AL SPEAKS TRUTH!
@QQ – saw your earlier comment on an earlier thread and eye-rolled (silently) along with you at the excuses being made for this ‘boy’, and I’m now living vicariously through your righteous, eye-rolling joy at being absolutely spot on in telling it how it was and is. 😉
The caping QQ. THE CAPING. The excuse making gymnastics was out of control with this one. I saw Al Roker live having none of Billy Bush BS. I clapped and hollered to the blue corn moon. He stirred that drink like my grandma use to fan herself to keep from cussing. Then BB has the audacity to tell Al to calm down. “eyebrows raised up to my edges” I was DEFCON 2 pissed of and wanted to go to Brazil and read BB for filth.
GIIIiiirrrrrrRRlllllLLSSSSS It was like a League of Justice ( and Condescension) Meeting up in here (I’m still having belly hearty giggles at this hour)
Al stirring is my new Icon on Shutting it down
What is going on in the US psyche in media that people can defend obvious caught out liars when they are white males…and he is no ‘kid’ and use words such as exaggerate for the lies they are?
The reason I ask is this reflects on a certain Republican Presidential Candidate who has people desperate to use any vocabulary to defend the indefensible ..
I have recently seen some Fox News clips and to me it is shocking ..history is being rewritten and claims are made that would be unacceptable from others
I saw a Republican deny science and facts and respond ..Well I believe something else and I will keep to that..(not religion but crime figures!)..
This is a dangerous area that the culture and society is going in and I am very concerned..
Seriously? Give it a bloody rest.
I get being upset about Ryan lying but how does the entire white race get indicted? It used to be fun to read comments here but now it’s exhausting.
Athletes, regardless of race have Always gotten a pass in the U.S.
Ray Lewis. Donte Stallworth. Laurence Taylor. Ron Arrest. Pacman Jones. Kobe Bryant. Just the names I can think of quickly.
That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of white athletes who have gotten away with crime because that list is probably just as long.
My point is this whole”white privilege” for every damn thing is utterly ridiculous.
Celebrity of any color will always have more privilege than the average person.
I think Lochte is getting way more heat in the media than Donald Trump though, which I do find odd, in that, in the grand scheme of things we won’t be talking about Lochte six months from now. People care how Lochte represents the USA but no one seems to be saying the same for Trump if he’s elected.
Thanks for understanding the direction of my comment..about honesty ,media ..possible double standards etc!!
I’m sorry but I think this is more a function of him being a high profile Olympic athlete, elevated to god-like status. Hes been babied and sheltered from consequence his entire life because of his talent.
I said this on the other thread and got roasted for it. If he had just said from the beginning that they were out of line but still scared when the security officers demanded money YES people would have felt sorry for them. They would have probably given them a pass for their boorish behavior. He did NOT have a gun held against his forehead and all of his statements and apologies since have been damage control because he KNEW that wasn’t how it happened and he realized it would eventually get out. I do believe he was intoxicated and confused and scared but the car wasn’t sideswiped, the gun was not cocked against his forehead. He never seemed confused about their behavior that precipitated the situation – he never brought it up. His teammates were probably so excited to hang out with him, and he left them twisting in the wind.
Why did you get roasted fro that? It’s pretty well the truth! if they had just admitted to behaving badly but being afraid once they were in over their heads, this would have played out a lot differently.
If he would have told the truth, then we all would say you dumbass and then moved on from the story. Too many people are crucifying him and I don’t agree with that. There are more important things than what he did. The election in November is a good example.
He has been in a bubble since he’s an athlete and now he got to figure out what else to do with his life. Everyone makes mistakes. His just happened on a global scale.
When you read the whole story, there are parts of it that are true.
Atia, I love your name.
What a complete asshat.
Hate me for it but I can’t believe the hate he is getting?! Rapist get less heat than this guy. Guns were still unnecessarily drawn, and a massive language barrier. He’s hot this monster he’s being painted into and it’s upsetting. Do this to someone who deserves it, he doesn’t.
I believe Lochte and friends lied. I also think Lochte and friends as well as Brazilian authorities are all equally guilty of being clusterf*cking idiots. And also, there is a lot of missing information.
1. When do we get to see full crime scene evidence including photos of damage plus the 2 minutes of the gas station security video that were not released to the public?
2. I’d like to see a journalist follow the money trail to the very end of the line for that $11k fine
3. Where is the outrage over Brazilian authorities trying Lochte & pals in the court of public opinion i.e. lack of due process, lack of presumption of innocence as well as authorities not even trying to prevent tainting a potential jury pool or judge. They publishing selected crime scene details to further their agenda. Lochte being a privileged white man does not absolve Brazil from any of these things.
I could be convinced otherwise because there is so much missing evidence. But I think Kaiser has made a good case for $11k being exchanged for passports. And since the definition of extortion is “obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats” then I’m gonna go with this. Brazil is guilty of extortion.
+1 I agree 100%. This was a shakedown. The DM is reporting the judge tried to quadruple the fine but Feigen had wisely already returned to the US. I hope they are held accountable, but what makes me really sad is that Brazil has a LOT of problems as a country and yet they devote plenty of resources to this one, VERY minor case. If I were one of the other athletes who really had been robbed I’d be super pissed.
That’s kind of where I’m at.
Ryan et al are morons. If they damaged the bathroom – they 100% should pay for the damages. I’m also willing to concede that if they tried to leave the scene while security was trying to figure out what was wrong, I can understand why guns were brought out. To the authorities, these were people trying to flee the scene.
But when it comes down to it- they should have gotten all of their information, and brought them in to custody or whatever – but they should not have been demanding money for the damages while at the scene. That is 100% insane. I don’t care if it’s ‘how it’s done’ there – as I’ve seen some people say. It’s INSANE.
A security guard – hell even a police officer – does not have the background knowledge to sum up the cost of those damages. A plumber, or contractor should have to be contacted. It should have gone out for contract, and then the bill sent to those who’ve done the damage. I’m married to a plumber – I hear about plumbing and costs all the time. But in no way would I be prepared to come up with a quote on work.
To sum it up – if they damaged property they 100% should be paying the cost of it. That cost shouldn’t be determined by a random security worker.
That’s the thing about traveling to foreign countries though. It really doesn’t matter if YOU as a foreigner think it’s insane that money changed hands at the scene, if that’s the way it’s done there. It’s your responsibility to know the your legal rights under that country’s laws and to be careful not to get into situations where you’re in over your head. If Lochte wasn’t familiar with how things work on the streets in Rio, he shouldn’t have left the Olympic village, let alone drunkenly pissed in the shrubbery and torn down posters. Sorry, that’s the deal. They even had a translator, they could have said “we aren’t going to pay until damages are assessed by a third party. Go ahead and call the cops.” But they chose not to. I really don’t get the sympathy for him.
Have you read the other swimmers’ side of the story? It’s not flattering to Lochte. Apparently the reason why the security guards had their guns out was because he was really aggressive with them, and Lochte is a really big man and physically intimidating.
@bridget I read Gunnar Bentz’s account of what happened, and IIRC, he stated that the guards had their guns out even before Lochte started arguing with them. He did say that 2 of the swimmers started to walk away from the taxi, which is when the guards pulled out their guns.
Nope. No guns were drawn until the guys tried to just ignore the guards and walk back to the cab. And even then, they had a translater help make sure everything was clear. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it’s pretty clear that the swimmers were in the wrong. ALL Lochte had to do was keep his mouth shut, but he decided to tell everyone that someone held a gun to his head.
This story might go on for another month. Here’s another headline “USA TODAY Sports investigation raises questions about Rio cops, Lochte incident” :
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/21/investigation-ryan-lochte-rio-olympics-authorities/89082232/
Thanks for posting this perplexed. It has more detail than any other account I have found. And I agree that I don’t think this is the end. My hunch is if Lochte’s sponsors are privately threatening to drop him, Lochte may also have a legal team quietly looking into Brazilian authorities and whether or not they failed to follow their country’s due process.
Because Lochte straight up lied. At this point, despite it making no sense at all, he made up a story about how he was robbed at gun point. We’d be arguing minutia to try to mitigate the circumstances, when its clear that he caused this mess and then high tailed it out and left his teammates to face the consequences. And tainting a jury pool? In neither country was this going to be a crime worthy of a jury trial, but never forget: when you are in a foreign country, you are subject to their laws and their justice system.
I have NEVER been a Lochte fan–he has always been a dim dudebro who got semi-famous for being a dim dudebro. He’s like a minor league Kardashian, and I can’t stand when people get famous for being idiots and not because they’re actually talented. Lochte, is actually talented, but he got famous for being an overgrown frat boy, not really because he’s an amazing athlete.
However, what bugs me the most about this situation is not that he’s some white dude who thought he could fib his way out of a stupid situation and expected no repercussions. What really irritates me is that his “over-exaggeration” has overshadowed the fact that several other athletes DID get robbed/mugged and now that is being overshadowed by the one idiot who acted a fool. Maybe I’m getting cynical in my old age, but I feel like maybe the IOC is only too happy to use Lochte as a scapegoat, hoping this will cover up the fact that perhaps Rio wasn’t the best location to begin with. Not just the muggings–those can and do happen anywhere. But I also wonder how much money was lost on the Games. Every venue I saw had tons of empty seats (and I watched damn near every event). Even the closing ceremonies appeared to be half empty. Sorry, I digress. This just whiffs of more than just a stupid dude being forced to apologize…
I’ve always thought Lochte was dumb/not bright, but I’ve never thought of him as unkind, which is probably why I believed him.
I do think Ryan Lochte is talented at swimming. He’s the second most decorated US swimmer after Phelps. Phelps is just so dominant that there’s no way for any other swimmer during his era to have caught up to him. Take Phelps out of the equation, and who knows — Lochte may have more gold medals to his name. Lochte was simply overshadowed by the greatest swimmer of ALL TIME, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, and perhaps one of the best athletes of all time. It just seems like Lochte came of age during the wrong swimming era. But he has medals to back up his talent. He’s definitely not like a Kardashian in that sense. He didn’t have to make sex tape to get famous, although I do think, oddly enough, that Kim Kardashian has more brains than Lochte (which isn’t hard to surpass).
I feel dumb for being fooled by him. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Why wasn’t Matt Lauer wearing socks during the interview?
Ugh this makes me so mad for so many reasons. The primary of which is that Brazil DOES have a crime problem. And now, everyone thinks its just fiction and Western prejudice because Ryan Lochte’s a douchebag. He just made it harder to focus on the problem at hand with his distracting nonsense.
@MINNFINN I am right there with you. Show me the receipts of the damage, please?! I need more. He’s not the monster he’s being painted into. It it so weird the amount of hate he is recieving! Phelps has multiple DUI’s and drove drunk….one of the most irresponsible/horrible things you could possibly do. Yet, he’s the hero?? **rolling my eyes**
Several reasons. 1) Phelps’s PR team is top notch 2) He is America’s Golden Boy 3) He owned up to his mistakes almost immediately 4) He checked himself into rehab 5) He got everyone focused on his beautiful soon-to-be wife and adorable baby boy… which brings me back to point one: his PR team is the real deal.
Speedo’s just dropped him. More to follow.
Ralph Lauren dropped him.
Well that’s dumb. This whole thing is being blown out of proportion. It’s mind blowing actually?!?! I’ll never buy Speedo brand anything again if they are going to be so ridiculous.
Ryan is an entitled idiot and the press should focus on the athletes who were really mugged, who were real victims of crime in Rio. But with this tabloid culture we live in, we get to hear about this story over and over. It’s quite likely the IOC and Brazilian authorities would rather have this be the focus than the actual crimes that occurred during the Olympics.
That said, why shouldn’t he lose his endorsement contracts? Big corporations expect their spokespeople to have “clean” images. They probably have some kind of morals clause. They don’t want drama and bad press, which is exactly what Ryan is giving now. They don’t want the negative association. Dropping him makes sense, just as it made sense for companies to drop Tiger Woods after his scandal.
Let’s see. . . here we have Lochte, a grown man who lied more than once (not overexaggerated), then ditched his friends so they had to face the music without him. Does anybody want someone who makes such bad decisions as the spokesperson for their product?
The press was never going to focus more on the athletes who were really mugged.
Parent company of Gentle Hair Removal also ended their contract with him.
I have lived in Rio and think Ryan Lochte is a douche who was obviously drunk and refusing to cooperate with the security guards at the scene. However, I think the Rio police in general have been overreacting because of the perception of Rio being a dangerous place. They certainly reported what seems to be false claims about the bathroom being vandalized, and Feigen’s fine for filing a false report also seems to be a stretch, although I am not sure in Brazilian law the difference between lying to police when questioned and actually filing a false report of a crime.
Wren33, you are the voice of reason. I agree. I honestly can’t BELIEVE this. Poor Ryan…he honestly doesn’t deserve this much hate and now sponsors dropping him?!?! I’m very sad for him over this entire mess.
People are honestly acting like he was caught red handed with a 13 year old prostitue in the gas station bathroom. This is outrageous.
Why wouldn’t sponsors drop him? There should be consequences for lying and destroying property. It’s not like he’s being imprisoned.
You’re surprised his sponsors are severing ties with him? Why would they want to be linked with someone so foolish?
Big business expects their celebrity spokespersons to have a good public image. They don’t want to be associated with someone who makes stupid decisions and who attracts negative publicity because of it. They don’t want to lose money, which is always the bottom line.
I think the sponsors have a right to sever ties if they feel the fit isn’t right, but I personally don’t think that Ryan Lochte is THAT terrible in comparison to stories I’ve read about other athletes. The dropping of sponsorships itself doesn’t necessarily affect my perception of him the way it did with Maria Sharapova, though I do think the sponsors have a right to do what they want.
I’m not surprised that his sponsors have dropped him but I’m disappointed that they have. I do hope he’ll be OK. It must be hard knowing how much people hate him.
I read yesterday that he is on the autism spectrum which if correct, explains a lot and I do feel bad for referring to him as not being terribly bright.
@Mel:
The claims of damaged property have not been substantiated with any evidence. In the reports I read, the bathroom door was locked, which is why they ended up peeing outside. It is true that Lochte tore a poster/sign, which whilst wrong and counts as vandalism, is not at the same level as destroying an entire room which is what’s being stated as fact. I think it’s USA today who inspected the bathroom soon after the incident and found no evidence of any property destruction at all.
There were multiple security cameras that recorded the incident but only one film has been released and that’s missing a couple of minutes.
Whilst it was wrong and stupid of Lochte to lie over some details, I believe the rest of what he said was true. But at this point I think he’s been set-up as a scape goat and I don’t think people are interested in the facts anymore as attacking him has turned into some kind of sport. Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m not accusing you of doing this, that’s just my observation in general.
Agree with you. Brazil did something similar to the Australians. When they Aussies first arrived @ Olympic City, they refused to stay at their allotted quarters, and put their athletes up in a hotel for days. The reason why was they said the rooms were unfinished, the toilets weren’t flushing, there was leaking water from above and puddles of water everywhere, and open exposed wiring, and to get to them they had to walk down a long, dark hallway with no lighting. The woman in charge of the AOC said all of this in a news conference and of course Brazil threw a hissy and denied it. Well a couple of days ago, several of the Aussie athletes went to one of the stadiums to watch their teammates play basketball. According to the news at the time they were taken in custody for having “altered their credentials” (those id badges they wear around their neck). They had their passports taken from them and weren’t allowed to leave the country until they each paid a fine, which would have been around $3 thousand dollars each. Oh, their terrible crime turned out to be that someone from the AOC had put a sticker on their “credentials”. Yeah, a sticker for something, and for that they were held against their will, passports confiscated, and fined a few grand. When the woman official from the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) spoke about it on tv, she was CRYING, that’s how horrendous an experience it was, and she promised that the AOC would compensate everyone who was fined. Brazil says “they broke the law.” I say it was extortion and revenge. I think Brazil was embarrassed by all the media stories of crime and the fact that their stadiums and venues were mostly empty during events. I don’t think the Olympics should ever be held in countries that cannot afford it, have extreme poverty and crime, and extreme pollution.
Jane16, oh my gosh. Thank you for the story. That INSANE. That should have never happened either.
Wow – that’s terrible! I’m glad they were able to sort it out. I’ve read the reports and it doesn’t really state that the incident occurred because of a sticker being put on their credentials; it’s just being reported that they tried to alter their credentials – which makes them seem guilty of fraud. I wonder if they’ll discuss it with the Australian Media upon their return.
It’s because Olympic athletes don’t require visas. Their athlete credentials ARE their visas. So it is actually a genuinely serious matter to deface them in any way. If you stuck a sticker onto your US visa, US customs officials wouldn’t let you into the country, for example. Their credentials are essentially a page from their passports. Here’s the US regulation:
“This passport must not be altered or mutilated in any way. Alteration could make the passport invalid, and if willful, may subject you to prosecution (Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1543). Only authorized officials of the United States or of foreign countries may place stamps or make notations or additions in this passport.”
Even so, huge over-reaction on the part of the authorities there.
What an idiot.
He lost four of his sponsors for being entitled, stupid and a fool. I should feel sorry for him (stupidity isn’t one’s fault, they can’t help by be stupid), but I just can’t. I read his long term loss could reach $10M
He shouldn’t have lied, but since he’s apologized and now lost for sponsors and may face a reprimand from the IOC, I don’t know if it’s accurate any longer to say that he got away with anything. His apology didn’t save him.
His apology didn’t save him because he is still lying.
This overgrown baby.
I don’t feel bad at all for Ryan Lochete. He is a grown man who is paying the consequences of his actions. What did he expect to waltz out like he did in Brazil without reprecautions? What a dumb fish.
Sorry, but I hate this man. Read an article about him and you will see his people there.
Justin Bieber’s publicist….