After taking home gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, Ryan Lochte is living under the scrutiny of the Hollywood spotlight.
But he’s not the only one. The Team USA champ’s sister, Megan Lochte, has found herself under fire after a controversial video she tapped years ago has spread like wildfire across the web.
The video, uncovered by Jezebel, features Megan offering up seemingly racist opinions on a talk show after returning from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The clip has sparked a disparaging media storm of backlash.
But now Megan is putting all speculation to rest and setting the record straight. “I would like to apologize for the video that is circulating,” Megan said in a statement to Celebuzz. “This was not a real interview, and it in no way reflects my true feelings or persona whatsoever.”
So where did the video come from?
The video was recorded in 2008. “During that time, I played a character on a television comedy show called Closing Time TV, which was a show with different comedy skits, fake news skits and staged interviews,” Megan explained. “The video in question reflects a skit from the show in which I acted as an ignorant guest on a talk show that made ignorant comments.”
While many have slammed the apparent racist ramblings in the video, Locthe’s sister says script was meant to shed light on such narrow-mindedness. “The intent was to make fun of the ignorance of people who actually do not have an understanding of other cultures and speak in racist ways,” said Megan. “The skit and my character were supposed to be making fun of ignorance.”
And she certainly was not aiming to offend her audience. “It was never the intent to make fun of any culture or class of people,” she assured. “I want to reiterate that this was not a real talk show, and I was not expressing my personal views.”
But, through this headline-hitting hoopla, the show’s mission to highlight societal prejudices did succeed in some way. “Comedy in general can be offensive, yet spread awareness,” Megan explained. “I do see how it was highly offensive to the viewer, but as seen by today’s widespread outrage, it clearly did increase awareness of the ignorance of those who are racist.”
Nevertheless, Megan recognizes that the controversial clip has rubbed people the wrong way. “While the intent of the script was to shed light on cultural ignorance, I realize that in application it did offend people,” she said. “For that, I apologize.”
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