Last July, as the protests and riots over the death of George Floyd, the Black Minneapolis man who died in police custody, the Washington Redskins believed one way to solve racism was to change the team’s name.
The Redskins changed their name to “Washington Football Team” – and voila! Racism solved.
Even though, as The Washington Post had reported 11 months earlier, at least three separate polls in 15 years revealed that a strong majority of Native Americans were not offended by the nickname.
Well, the Football Team is upping its woke cred – by canceling cheerleaders.
This fall, for the first time in almost 60 years, the ‘The Washinton Football Team” will not feature cheerleaders on the sidelines.
Instead, according to USA Today, the team will replace them with a coed dance team.
Petra Pope, who managed NBA cheerleading squads for more than three decades, recently took over as the director of the dance troupe. She told USA Today, “We want to be more inclusive, so we are going to invite a coed entity” to audition.
“We’re able to do more things with the strength of a male, and lifts, so that’s changed a great deal. The inclusivity, strength, and interest of choreography has changed.”
In a separate interview, Pope told ESPN that her goal is to create a “more modern franchise.”
“With that comes inclusivity, diversity and in my mind, as an entertainer, athleticism,” Pope said.
“My desire is to create a team that is all of that — inclusive, diverse, coed, athletic — to set the gold standard in the NFL. We’re looking for that super athlete that can dance, perform tricks and stunts and manipulate whatever props that will create a really great show.”
Pope added, “Change can be extremely difficult.”
“I appreciate the passion that the ladies have and can relate to that passion because I’ve been a mentor for thousands of dancers over my career. As we progress to a reimagined era, the choreography will be much more athletic. We welcome the dancers of the past to audition, and if they have that skill set, they’re welcome to join us.”
While the politics of gender have gotten hare-brained in America in recent years, it was not lost on Candess Correll, the captain of the WFT cheerleading squad, that Pope’s contention that men are needed to make the sideline entertainers more modern and athletic was simple sexism.
“There is literally nothing different about this vibe that she explained that we haven’t already been doing,” Correll tweeted.
“We tumble at each touchdown. Flip each other during pregame. Already have dozens of costumes. Already are very (arguably the most) diverse race & gender-wise.”
Some fans were supportive of the ladies on social media.
“As a woman in the dance world, this whole situation has me fuming for you,” one woman tweeted in reply to Correll.
“The blatant disrespect to you women, the lack of professionalism, the lack of BASIC communication is astounding. To me it was worded like ‘now that men will be brought in, you can be seen as athletes.’”
Another user simply added: “Not watching dudes dance.”
ESPN noted the WFT had launched a cheerleading squad, known as the First Ladies of Football, in 1962.
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