Ryan Lochte has lost a pretty huge sponsorship.
And that’s no lie.
On the heels of his very public fabrication over an alleged robbery that took place in Brazil last week, Lochte has basically been fired by Speedo.
The company announced on Monday that it has ended its sponsorship deal with the 12-time medalist, saying via statement:
“Speedo USA today announces the decision to ends its sponsorship of Ryan Lochte.
“As part of this decision, Speedo USA will donate a $ 50,000 portion of Lochte’s fee to Save The Children, a global charity partner of Speedo USA’s parent company, for children in Brazil.”
The global apparel company arrived at this decision following a pretty awful and embarrassing few days for Lochte.
It started when he told NBC that he and three U.S. Swimming teammates had been robbed at gunpoint after a night out in Rio.
However, talk that Lochte was lying began to circulate after authorities failed to find any evidence that the crime, as the athlete described it, had actually taken place.
After Lochte booked it back to the United States as quickly as possible, his teammates were removed from a flight home and had their passports confiscated.
At this point, they came clean, explaining that Lochte had mainly been the one responsible for vandalizing a gas station in Rio.
No robbery took place. The group was NOT held up by random thugs.
Instead, security guards drew their weapons on Lochte and company and demanded payment for the vandalism, or else they would call the police.
Subsequently, Lochte issued a half-hearted apology.
“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend — for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics,” he wrote.
Lochte concluded by basically telling everyone to stop talking about his actions, writing:
“There has already been too much said and too many valuable resources dedicated to what happened last weekend, so I hope we spend our time celebrating the great stories and performances of these Games and look ahead to celebrating future successes.”
After the public scoffed at Lochte downplaying his role and refusing to admit he flat-out lied, Lochte sat down with Matt Lauer and tried again.
“I’m taking full responsibility for it because I overexaggerated that story and if I never did that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” the swimmer told Lauer over the weekend.
He later added, through tears:
“I let my team down. I don’t want them to think that I left them dry. I took away from their accomplishments by being immature for one night. That’s what hurts the most.”
In its statement, Speedo USA concluded:
“While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for.
“We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience.”
Lochte then acknowledged Speedo’s move with his own statement.
“I respect Speedo’s decision and am grateful for the opportunities that our partnership has afforded me over the years,” he said.
“I am proud of the accomplishments that we have achieved together.”
It wouldn’t surprise us at all if this was merely the first company to end its partnership with Lochte following this total mess.