Megan Lochte was talking about her experience attending the Olympics Games in Beijing when she compared the people to 'chinks'.
- August 26, 2012
AceShowbiz -
Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte is back to the headlines, thanks to his sister's controversial interview in 2008. A video capturing Megan Jean Lochte Torrini using racial slurs when talking about Olympic Games in Beijing during a late-night Maryland talk show chat has emerged much to her dismay.
"China was chinked out," Megan said on the show. "It was totally Chinese ...there were chinks everywhere." The host tried to ease down the racial slur tone but Megan added, "but it fits them because they're, like, chinks. You know how they stereotypically want to take pictures? They take pictures of everything." She also said Chinese "drive like ninjas" and talked about the food as well as Great Wall of China in unfavorable way.
Megan has issued an apology for the video that has circulated on the Internet, saying it was actually a skit. "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, staged interviews, etc," she 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."
"This was not a real interview, and it in no way reflects my true feelings or persona whatsoever. 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. The skit and my character were SUPPOSED to be making fun of ignorance. It was never the intent to make fun of any culture or class of people."
"Comedy in general can be offensive, yet spread awareness. 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. I want to reiterate that this was NOT a real talk show, and I was not expressing my personal views. While the intent of the script was to shed light on cultural ignorance, I realize that in application it did offend people, and for that I apologize."
