Go Away, Ryan Lochte
Okay, this is the first, and I hope only, comment I’m going to make about that mess of an American athlete, Ryan Lochte.
Thank goodness there was a video recording of what really happened at that little Brazilian gas station. Without it, Lochte and his fellow travelers might have gotten away with the lie about being robbed of $400 by thugs masquerading as police officers — and Lochte’s claim that a gun was held to his forehead. Turned out the truth was that Lochte, James Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger had partied all night and then gotten into a taxi, which stopped at a gas station.
There, these true epitomes of the “ugly American” walked into a restroom, urinated against a wall, broke a door and a mirror — then got back into the taxi. That’s when a security guard showed up.
There’s more, of course, but here’s the bottom line, at least for me: Ryan Lochte is an obnoxious, lying, conceited piece of work who should now realize that his time on the public stage is over. Done with. Kaput.
His so-called “apology” clearly showed a lack of sincerity and awareness. It was one of those “non-apologies” we’ve become accustomed to from politicians whose fingers — or other organs — get caught in or near places they shouldn’t be. Take just one sentence of his “non-apology” — that he’s sorry “for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning.” Right. We’ve all been careless by falsely suggesting we had a gun pressed to our foreheads.
Enough of the lies. Enough of Ryan Lochte. He’s done his bit to tarnish some of the golden legacy Americans have earned in this Olympics. Now it’s time for him to go away — disappear — go live his life away from the public eye.
But I have my doubts about whether this self-absorbed, “I must have the media cover me” narcissist can do it.