American swimming superstar Ryan Lochte has been dropped by his major sponsor Speedo.
Speedo, a company that produces swimming gear, tweeted out a press release explaining that its decision to end its endorsement deal with Lochte was spurred by his alleged actions in Rio. (VIDEO: Ryan Lochte: ‘I Let My Team Down’)
The official response regarding our sponsorship of Ryan Lochte. pic.twitter.com/0DdP2RyceD
— Speedo USA (@SpeedoUSA) August 22, 2016
The statement reads:
Speedo USA today announces the decision to end 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. 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 was involved in an incident at a Rio gas station where money was taken from him at gunpoint. The gold-medal winning Olympian viewed it as a robbery, and the local Brazilians felt it was a negotiation for damages caused in the bathroom by Lochte and three of his teammates. (SLIDESHOW: This Nearly Naked Model Is All The Motivation You Need For The Olympics)
Lochte recently explained the situation to NBC’s Matt Lauer. He apologized for some his actions, but maintained that the situation escalated out of control when weapons were introduced.