Ryan Lochte has been dropped by all of his major sponsors in the wake of the incident he was involved with at a gas station in Brazil, but at least one company is willing to work with him despite the bad publicity.
TMZ learned on Thursday that Lochte has signed an endorsement deal with the Pine Brothers throat lozenge company. The CEO of the company, Rider McDowell, said he believes Lochte deserves to be forgiven for his mistake.
“We all make mistakes, but they’re rarely given front-page scrutiny,” McDowell said. “He’s a great guy who has done incredible work with charities. I’m confident that Pine Bros. fans will support our decision to give Ryan a second chance.”
Lochte will appear in print advertisements and a commercial for Pine Bros. It’s unclear how much money the deal is worth, but we’re guessing Lochte won’t be paid nearly as much as he was getting from the biggest sponsor that dropped him.
After coming clean about being lying in Brazil, Lochte admitted he was intoxicated and has not ruled out going to rehab. Considering he is 32 and expected to be suspended — at the very least — by U.S. Swimming, Lochte won’t have an easy time finding endorsement opportunities going forward.
