Ryan Lochte had just finished his “Dancing with the Stars” routine during the live season premiere Monday night when two men rushed the stage before being intercepted by security, according to ABC News. The network added that “four or five women” yelling anti-Lochte chants from the audience were also escorted out.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba was giving her feedback to Lochte and his dance partner Cheryl Burke when Inaba suddenly started yelling “Excuse me!” and “Hey, back off!” at the disrupters.
E News’ Tierney Bricker described the situation as “scary.”
“DWTS” host Tom Bergeron seemed to keep his cool during the situation as viewers could hear him say off-camera, “Wow. Oh, OK,” before quickly tossing to commercial.
When the show returned, Bergeron thanked security for intervening and told viewers the program had to take a break because of “a little incident.”
The U.S. Olympic swimmer, who won a gold medal in Rio this summer, said he was “doing good” but feeling “a little hurt.”
“I came out here,” he told Bergeron. “I wanted to do something I’m completely not comfortable with, and I did.”
Lochte joined the cast of the ABC reality show after losing several endorsement deals when his fabricated story about being robbed at gunpoint by Rio police unraveled during the Olympic games. Last week, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Swimming announced it would be punishing Lochte for his role in the incident by suspending him for 10 months.
ABC News’ George Pennacchio tweeted a photo of two men who appeared to have been detained and were wearing anti-Lochte T-shirts.
Later, Inaba posted an update to Instagram saying the moment was scary but there’s “only positive energy here tonight.”
