American swimmer Ryan Lochte has released a statement on Twitter after his claims of being robbed in Rio were found not to be entirely true – but Twitter users just aren’t having any of it.
Ryan Lochte's apology statement should of said sorry not sorry at the end, because that's basically what he was getting at. ðð¼
— Tracy Strong (@TKStr0ng) August 19, 2016
Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medallist, claimed he and team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and James Feigen were stopped by armed robbers posing as police in their taxi back to the athletes’ village following a party.
However, Rio police spotted inconsistencies in their initial statements and, following an investigation, told a press conference that Lochte had lied to cover up a bizarre episode at a petrol station and the presence of two women the group had met at the party who were in a second taxi.
https://t.co/n82dZH2gfl pic.twitter.com/rGp1nmA94G
— Ryan Lochte (@RyanLochte) August 19, 2016
Some Twitter users took issue with the phrasing of his statement.
It read: “I want to apologise for my behaviour last weekend – for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning”.
Phrases like "I lied on national TV" and "I made stuff up" strangely absent from Lochte statement
— Graham Dunbar (@gdunbarap) August 19, 2016
Lochte's statement: "sorry for not being candid" means sorry for lying?
— Erik Moroles (@mowrowless) August 19, 2016
Others suggested that Lochte had hired a lawyer to write the statement for him.
#Lochte's statement/apology is a perfect example of how lawyers earn their money.
— Scott Rochelle (@ScottRochelle_) August 19, 2016
100% chance Lochte's PR crew typed up his Twitter statement.. Ryan Lochte doesn't know half those words #clown
— Luke Jackson (@lucas_andrew88) August 19, 2016
I would've rather Lochte just say "I'm an idiot, sorry" than releasing a PR statement he didn't write 3 words of
— Brian Penter (@BrianPenter) August 19, 2016