Watch Al Roker Shut Down Billy Bush On Ryan Lochte-Gate
There have been many opinions following “Lochte-Gate.” In summary, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte flat-out lied about a robbery and confrontation he initially claimed to have experienced with teammates while in Brazil. The story has since been debunked but that hasn’t kept many in the media from finding unique ways to defend him anyway. Today host Billy Bush found out the hard way that Al Roker, usually the show’s laid back host, was having none of the Lochte protectionism on Friday’s show.
“He lied. He lied to you, he lied to Matt Lauer, he lied to his mom,” Roker told Billy Bush. “He left his teammates hanging while he skedaddled. There was no robbery, there was no pull over. Nobody held a gun to his head. He lied.”
Billy Bush then went on to say that Lochte “embellished” the experience. The teams went back and forth about the “Dirty Harry” story of Lochte “looking down the barrel of a gun” and how most of the story was completely fabricated.
“We agree to disagree,” Roker finished. “We’ll keep an open mind.”
Watch the clip below:
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Bush had no cause for telling Roker to: “Calm down.” Roker wasn’t yelling at Bush, he was simply making a valid point, which is that Lochte’s a liar. We also know why Bush was heavily defending Lochte: He’s a white male AND a gifted athlete. Had any of the United States’ Black athlete’s gone on over to Rio, acted like thugs, and embarrassed the U.S. as ol’ Lochte and his pals did, the media would have shown no mercy. However, Lochte gets a pass because of White privilege. He told numerous lies while using “the brown man did it” defense, and screwed over his teammates while he fled the country, and the Bush wants to say he “embellished” his story. Whatever. I’m also tired of hearing the thugs involved referred to as “kids.” They are all grown men, and at 32-years-old, Lochte was the oldest one in the group. He may not be very smart, but he’s still an adult, so there’s no excuse for his behavior.