Al Roker Becomes the Ranting Voice of Reason in the Ryan Lochte Scandal

The story of U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is getting more frustrating by the day. After vandalizing a gas station and then making up a story about getting held up at gunpoint, the 32-year-old athlete seems to be getting away with it, as some people try to brush it off as “boys goofing off and making mistakes.” This is while gymnast Gabby Giffords is raked over the coals for not putting her hand over her heart during the National Anthem.

Over the weekend, we got the cathartic rant we all needed from Al Roker as he got into a heated argument with Today co-anchor Billy Bush.

“He lied,” he said flatly. “He lied to you, he lied to Matt Lauer, he lied to his mom, he left his teammates hanging while he skedaddled. … There was no robbery, there was no pullover, nobody cocked a gun to his head. He lied.”

Bush told Roker to “calm down” and tried to make the case that Lochte just got scared and confused in front of the security officer because he couldn’t speak Portuguese, and then “embellished” the story.

Roker was having none of it. “He didn’t embellish, he lied. He said their car was hit.”

It got close to a full-on fight before an exasperated Roker said they’d “agree to disagree.” Bush later said that he was just “playing devils advocate” while Roker angrily stirred his drink with a straw.

After a week of bad excuses and double standards, this was a welcome relief for almost everyone watching.