Derek Hough Opens Up About The Ryan Lochte Protest on DWTS

Derek Hough arrives at the dance studio for practice on Friday afternoon (September 16).

The 31-year-old pro dancer met up with partner Marilu Henner to perfect their foxtrot for next week’s Dancing With the Stars.

“I really admire Ryan [Lochte] putting himself out there like that on the show. That’s not easy. The easy thing to do would be to go into hiding, but he’s owning up to his mistakes publicly,” Derek shared in his TVGuide blog. “He can’t undo what he did in Rio. The damage, so to speak, is already done. All he can do now is admit to his wrongdoing, which he has, and move forward and show that he’s learned his lesson.”

He added, “I’ll be honest — I had my opinion about it and I was like, ‘That was stupid and dumb.’ But when you see someone do good and make up for it, I’m not gonna sit here and dwell on it. People are reacting like he killed someone. I think we think Olympians are superhuman and incapable of making mistakes. They’re athletes, but they’re still human like you and me. Let him learn from his mistakes. I believe some people find significance in doing good and others find significance in tearing people down, and I am definitely not for the latter. We should all be striving to do good things and to be good to one another.”

15+ pics inside of Derek Hough…