Ryan Lochte Interview on Alleged Rio Robbery — Transcript

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1. 0:00Now to Ryan Lochte, joining us for his
2. 0:02first live interview since the Olympics
3. 0:04and the international incident his
4. 0:05actions set off. He will join us in just
5. 0:07a moment to address all of that and his
6. 0:10upcoming turn on Dancing with the Stars.
7. 0:12But first, a look at the scandal putting
8. 0:13Lochte in the spotlight and still making
9. 0:15headlines around the world.
10. 0:18It was a night meant to be a celebration
11. 0:21that turned into an international
12. 0:23incident.
13. 0:24All sparked from a very public lie. And
14. 0:27then the guy pulled out his gun.
15. 0:29He cocked it, put it to my forehead.
16. 0:32Leading Brazilian authorities to charge
17. 0:3412-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte
18. 0:36with filing a false police report. His
19. 0:38lawyer telling ABC News they have not
20. 0:40yet seen the indictment and will
21. 0:42cooperate with Brazilian authorities.
22. 0:44This as one of the swimmers involved,
23. 0:46James Feigen, admitted that the group
24. 0:47failed to tell police certain aspects of
25. 0:49the evening, most of it captured on gas
26. 0:51station surveillance video. All four
27. 0:53Olympic swimmers now back in the US with
28. 0:56Feigen having to pay an $11,000 fine
29. 0:58before leaving the country. Lochte, who
30. 1:01had nearly $1 million worth of
31. 1:02endorsement deals, has since been
32. 1:04dropped by four sponsors, including
33. 1:05Ralph Lauren and Speedo. I've done the
34. 1:08training. And Jimmy Fallon even poking
35. 1:10fun at the MTV VMAs.
36. 1:13I'm the one who gave Adele the flip
37. 1:14phone. Hilaire.
38. 1:16Hilaire.
39. 1:18Ermagerd, I got to call you back. I got
40. 1:19to call waiting.
41. 1:21I taught Drake the Hotline Bling dance.
42. 1:22I tripped in the bathroom, got my bag.
43. 1:27Lochte now ready to take on his biggest
44. 1:29challenge, not in the pool, but on the
45. 1:31dance floor.
46. 1:34And joining us now is Ryan Lochte. And
47. 1:36Ryan, you initially said that you
48. 1:37exaggerated about what happened
49. 1:39Yes. that evening. Why did you lie?
50. 1:42Um, you know, I think it was still hours
51. 1:45after the incident. I and you know,
52. 1:49um,
53. 1:50I'm not one to
54. 1:53um, make excuses, but I mean, I was
55. 1:56still intoxicated. Um,
56. 1:59I was still going through the emotions
57. 2:01of, you know, having a gun pulled on me.
58. 2:04And I mean, I just
59. 2:06I'm a human. I made a mistake and that's
60. 2:09something that I'm going to have to live
61. 2:10with. You never technically filed a
62. 2:13police report. They actually came to
63. 2:16you. Would you still characterize what
64. 2:18happened that night as a robbery?
65. 2:22I don't know if I would consider as a
66. 2:23robbery or extortion or us just paying
67. 2:27for the fine for
68. 2:29just paying up for the poster being
69. 2:30ripped.
70. 2:31Um,
71. 2:33Do you acknowledge that you ripped up
72. 2:34the poster?
73. 2:35I did. Yes. Um, walking back through,
74. 2:39but
75. 2:40and then, you know, USA Today and other
76. 2:44people have been finding out,
77. 2:46investigating it and there was no damage
78. 2:49to the bathroom. You say you never even
79. 2:51entered the bathroom.
80. 2:51I never even entered the bathroom. Um,
81. 2:54it was locked, so we couldn't go in
82. 2:56there at all. So,
83. 2:58the story about me vandalizing the
84. 2:59bathroom
85. 3:01is absurd.
86. 3:02It never happened. So, what what was the
87. 3:05lie? What what was the thing you told
88. 3:06that wasn't true? The thing that I told
89. 3:09that wasn't true was having the gun
90. 3:11pointed to my forehead and cocked. That
91. 3:14was
92. 3:15that was over exaggerated.
93. 3:17But a gun was pulled, but not pointed at
94. 3:19your head.
95. 3:19Yes. All right. How will you respond
96. 3:21then to the charges recently filed by
97. 3:23the Brazilian government? Will you go
98. 3:25back to Brazil and face those charges?
99. 3:27You know, I have definitely have a great
100. 3:30um,
101. 3:32team and they're dealing with it, all
102. 3:35the legal issues. Um, and
103. 3:39we're just trying to
104. 3:40get this over with. Um,
105. 3:42I mean, it's been dragged out way too
106. 3:44long and
107. 3:47it's
108. 3:48it's been the media's taken this to a
109. 3:51whole new level and I just want to put
110. 3:53this behind me and move on and move
111. 3:55forward.
112. 3:56And I think, you know, the rest of the
113. 3:58world wants that, too. I mean, we've
114. 4:00been talking about this way too long and
115. 4:02there's other bigger issues
116. 4:04that this world is facing.
117. 4:06Your teammate, James Feigen, settled
118. 4:08with authorities. He paid more than
119. 4:09$10,000.
120. 4:11Have you thought about paying him back
121. 4:12since you took the lead on the lie and
122. 4:14do you plan on paying anything to the
123. 4:16Brazilian government?
124. 4:18Like I said, my legal team, they're
125. 4:20dealing with it and whatever happens
126. 4:23happens.
127. 4:24And I reached out to Jimmy saying, I
128. 4:27know you had to pay that fine.
129. 4:29You know, it is my fault. I'm taking
130. 4:31full responsibility for this.
131. 4:33And I will pay that back.
132. 4:36If he will let me.
133. 4:38So, What have you said to your other
134. 4:40teammates? Have you reached out to them?
135. 4:42I definitely I've reached out to
136. 4:44everyone. Um,
137. 4:46I think that was something that I that
138. 4:49was the most like important thing that I
139. 4:51did because they they mean so much to
140. 4:54me. And when I found out that they were
141. 4:56pulled off the plane and everything
142. 4:59that's been happening to them in the
143. 5:00media, like that hurt me.
144. 5:03And cuz I I wasn't there and
145. 5:06I wanted to be there and I wanted to
146. 5:08help. I left
147. 5:10on my own time.
148. 5:12I didn't leave I didn't leave them for
149. 5:14dry or anything like that. I left when I
150. 5:17was supposed to leave for my flight. Uh,
151. 5:20the authorities, they cooperated with
152. 5:22me. Like everything was perfect. They
153. 5:24said, "Congratulations
154. 5:26on your gold medal." And
155. 5:29I left. They didn't say you have to stay
156. 5:31here or anything like that. So,
157. 5:34I it just I've been really trying to
158. 5:38be supportive and be positive for them
159. 5:41being like, "I'm really sorry."
160. 5:44I mean, that's all I can do right now.
161. 5:45What about your mom? Your mom also got
162. 5:47dragged into this. Yes.
163. 5:50Um,
164. 5:52I mean, not much I can say. I mean, it's
165. 5:53my mom. She's no matter what, she's
166. 5:56going to
167. 5:57uh, stick by my side and
168. 6:00Did you apologize to her?
169. 6:01Oh, I definitely did. Uh,
170. 6:03everything that she's done in my entire
171. 6:06life, she's been there through thick and
172. 6:08thin and especially this.
173. 6:10I just hate how it's this has
174. 6:12affected my entire family. And like the
175. 6:15people around the world, uh,
176. 6:17no one deserves that and I mean, I can't
177. 6:20repay her for what's happened, but I
178. 6:23mean, we're a family. We have to stick
179. 6:24together. What do you say to people who
180. 6:26who say you've embarrassed your country?
181. 6:29Have you?
182. 6:31I mean, I
183. 6:33I think it's
184. 6:35it's everyone blowing this way out of
185. 6:37proportion. I think that's what
186. 6:39happened. And you know, like I said,
187. 6:41I I did lie about that one part. And I
188. 6:45take full responsibility. I'm human. I
189. 6:47made a mistake. A very big mistake and
190. 6:50it's something that I learned from and I
191. 6:52know that that will never happen again.
192. 6:55Dancing with the Stars, you actually
193. 6:57agreed to be a part of the show before
194. 6:59this incident
195. 7:00Yes.
196. 7:00now that you've dealt with
197. 7:03the incident and you're still dealing
198. 7:04with the backlash, do you do you still
199. 7:06feel like it's a good idea to put
200. 7:07yourself out there on a reality TV show
201. 7:10while you're still legally dealing with
202. 7:11this, financially dealing with this and
203. 7:13emotionally dealing with this?
204. 7:16Uh, the emotional part is the hardest
205. 7:18thing. Uh,
206. 7:21it's been the past 2 weeks have been
207. 7:23like the lowest point of my life and
208. 7:26it's been really hard, but like the
209. 7:28fans,
210. 7:30my family, my friends, they've all been
211. 7:32really positive
212. 7:34keeping me going and that's what I want
213. 7:36to do and this is perfect with the show
214. 7:38cuz I want to put that behind me. Um,
215. 7:42I'm never the one to dwell on the past.
216. 7:44I would just want to move forward. And
217. 7:47I want the whole world to move forward.
218. 7:50I don't want this I mean, everyone's got
219. 7:52to be sick and tired of hearing about
220. 7:53this.
221. 7:54I I know I am. And I just want to move
222. 7:57forward and
223. 8:00and put on your dancing shoes. Put on my
224. 8:02dancing shoes. Or at least try to.
225. 8:04All right, Ryan Lochte, we're going to
226. 8:05have much more with you in our next hour
227. 8:07talking about Dancing with the Stars.
228. 8:08Thank you for joining us.