Sam Sotoodeh and Barzeen Soroudi, the two men who rushed the stage after Ryan Lochte’s Dancing With the Stars debut on September 12, have been charged by prosecutors.
According to the Associated Press, Sotoodeh and Soroudi were charged on Monday, September 26, with interfering with a performance and leaving a spectator area and entering a stage. Both are misdemeanor charges.
As previously reported by Us Weekly, the two protesters were arrested after the incident at the Dancing With the Stars studio in Hollywood, and released on $1,000 bail. They told reporters after getting out of jail on September 13 that they acted out to send a message to the 12-time Olympic medalist.
“Our purpose is to get the message out that Lochte is a coward, a liar and under Brazilian law, a criminal,” Sotoodeh said, accordiong to ABC News, referring to Lochte’s Rio scandal.
“[Lochte] embarrassed Americans on the world’s stage, and this was our form of protesting against that,” Soroudi added at the time.
Lochte made headlines during the Summer Olympics last month after he claimed that he and three teammates were held at gunpoint and robbed at a Rio gas station. After authorities investigated the incident and found surveillance footage, Lochte and his teammates were accused of vandalizing the gas station bathroom after a night out partying. Lochte has since issued a public apology and was sentenced to a 10-month suspension by the USOC and USA Swimming.
Lochte and his dance partner, pro Cheryl Burke, have been holding their own during season 23 of DWTS. The athlete scored a 25 for Monday night’s cha-cha.
“When I was asked to do the show, the one thing that I kept hearing was that it was like joining a big family,” Lochte wrote in an Instagram post on September 14 after being rushed on stage. “After Monday’s incident, I now know what that means. I have gotten so much love from everyone on the show, including my partner Cheryl, my fellow competitors, the producers, the security team and its fans.”
