Swimwear brand Speedo decided to drop its sponsorship of U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte after the scandal surrounding his robbery claim in Rio came to light. The company said that it can’t condone behavior that contradicts its values.

Last week, Lochte and three teammates claimed they were robbed at gunpoint at a gas station after a night out in Rio. But when police followed up with the swimmers, their statements differed from each other and Lochte’s nonchalant reaction to being threatened with a gun to his head, to which he responded by saying, “whatever,” also called his account into question.

By Thursday, it became clear that their reports of a robbery were embellished and possibly fictitious. Rio police said Lochte and friends had vandalized the gas station by tearing off the bathroom door and urinating on a wall. They then got out of the situation by paying the gas station owner for the damage. While questions about the Rio police’s handling of the incident came to light after USA Today reconstructed the events, it is clear that significant aspects of the original robbery story were fabricated.

On Friday, Lochte released a statement with an apology, saying he regretted not being more careful and candid in his description of the events. But for people in Rio, the damage to their city’s image is not yet fixed.

Speedo tweeted its formal statement on Monday:

The official response regarding our sponsorship of Ryan Lochte. pic.twitter.com/0DdP2RyceD

— Speedo USA (@SpeedoUSA) August 22, 2016

Other brands that have sponsorship deals with Lochte include Ralph Lauren and Japanese mattress company Airweave. Ralph Lauren said that it will not be renewing its contract with Lochte while Airweave told Bloomberg that it intends to maintain its partnership with the swimmer.

The spokesperson of the International Olympic Committee, Mario Andrada, made headlines when he defended the swimmers’ behavior on Thursday saying, “Let’s give these kids a break. Sometimes you take actions that you later regret. They are magnificent athletes.”

Considering Lochte is 32, that defense seems out of place, especially after social media users bullied U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas, who is only 20, for being “unpatriotic” during the Olympics.

The bizarre situation led to many reactions on social media, a pattern that continued in light of Speedo’s decision to drop its sponsorship on Monday:

Speedo publicly drops Ryan Lochte. I always assumed it would be the other way around.

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) August 22, 2016

Hard to believe a guy with bleached hair in 2016 would turn out to be a total douche. #LochteMessMonster

— KevinDillon (@Dillonopolous) August 18, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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UPDATE: Ryan Lochte has since issued an apology for his behavior:

https://t.co/n82dZH2gfl pic.twitter.com/rGp1nmA94G

— Ryan Lochte (@RyanLochte) August 19, 2016

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A bizarre story just got a whole lot messier. Earlier this week, it was reported that Ryan Lochte, along with three other U.S. swimmers, were robbed at gunpoint while returning home from a party in Rio. The news seemed to affirm worries that the country was not in great shape to hold the 2016 Games, which so far had seemed to be incident-free, and the robbery of a high-profile athlete such as Lochte didn’t bode well for the country’s image. However, Brazilian police are now alleging that the swimmers’ accounts of the robbery are not adding up, and a judge has ordered that the passports of Lochte and swimmer Jimmy Feigen be seized so that they can conduct an investigation into the claims. Last night, officials pulled Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, the other two swimmers involved, off their plane back to the U.S. and detained them.

Lochte has reportedly already left Rio, while Feigen’s location hasn’t been disclosed. Since the news broke, there has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the details of what occurred late Saturday night. While the International Olympic Committee originally vehemently denied that the robbery took place, it quickly doubled back and confirmed the claims. On Tuesday, Lochte told USA Today that the incident was not originally reported because “we were afraid to get in trouble.”

Now, recent video footage has shed light on inconsistencies in the athletes’ accounts of that night. Footage released by The Daily Mail allegedly shows the athletes returning to the Olympic Village early Sunday morning and going through the x-ray machines with items they claimed were stolen in the incident. The actual timing of the return did not match up with the time that the swimmers claimed to have returned. Additionally, the owner of the gas station where the robbery was said to have occurred also told the Daily Mail that, in the surveillance video he turned over to the police, there was proof that the athletes were never there that night.

It is this video in particular that allegedly prompted the judge to order the passport seizure. Filing a false police report is a punishable offense in Brazil that can lead to jail time.

Fortunately for Lochte, he is back home safe and sound: if he was still hanging around Rio, the judge’s order would prohibit him from leaving the country while the incident was being investigated. His lawyer told CNN that even if an arrest warrant was issued by Brazilian authorities, Lochte would not be turning himself in.

Lochte, the 11-time Olympic medalist, responded to the accusations in a conversation with Matt Lauer. He reportedly told Lauer that Brazilian authorities had not asked him to stay in the country, which is why he left on schedule. He also claimed that he  “wouldn’t make this up,” although there were slight inconsistencies with the account he told Lauer from what he originally told the Today Show’s Billy Bush.

Lochte and the other swimmers better get ready: until and unless their claims are corroborated, they will definitely face anger from the Brazilian people for maligning their country. While there’s a lot of speculation surrounding what exactly happened, one thing’s for certain: an already-unpredictable Olympic Games just got weirder.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

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