What will President Trump say about this?
The Minnesota Vikings are stepping into uncharted territory, adding two male dancers – Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn – to their cheerleading squad for the 2025 season.
While male cheerleaders are not new to football, especially at the collegiate level, the two men are breaking new ground by performing energetic dance-based routines, complete with the kind of hip-gyrating flair typically offered by female performers.
A YouTube post of Mr. Shiek and Mr. Conn displaying their dance skills created a firestorm of comments ranging from critical to supportive. “Male cheerleaders that act like that are ok, but these dudes clearly are not that,” wrote one Vikings fan. “Let them live their lives. Let them cheer and be happy,” wrote another.
The controversy arrives at a politically charged moment, considering Mr. Trump’s hard stance on gender boundaries in sports. His administration is vehemently opposed to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports and favors traditional gender norms. Whether male cheerleaders dancing at NFL games crosses those boundaries and becomes a political issue remains to be seen.
Males have been a part of cheer squads for decades and used mainly for stunts, tossing female cheerleaders in the air, and encouraging crowd noise. The list includes former presidents Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George W. Bush. Actors Jimmy Stewart and Samuel L. Jackson were also cheerleaders while attending college. Kirk Douglas was a cheerleader in high school.
According to Outsports, 12 NFL teams will have male cheerleaders during the 2025 season, a significant increase from the seven teams in 2024.
Those teams are the Baltimore Ravens, with a league-high 19 male cheerleaders, the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Carolina Panthers and the Vikings.
Justine Lindsay, who joined the Panthers in 2022 as the NFL’s first transgender cheerleader, told Outsports she will not return for a fourth season. She said she wants to focus on uplifting the younger generation.
“Don’t let a president who is delusional stop them from reaching their goals whether they are trans, African American, not American, etc.,” she wrote in a statement.
Messrs. Shiek and Conn achieved their goal of making the Vikings cheer squad in May after what was reported as grueling rounds of tryouts, but little was made of their addition until this week.
The Vikings defended their selection in a statement to NBC News. “Male cheerleaders have been part of previous Vikings teams and have long been associated with collegiate and professional cheerleading,” the team said. “We support all our cheerleaders and are proud of the role they play as ambassadors of the organization.”
Mr. Shiek, who attended high school in Fargo, North Dakota, said he went to many Vikings games with his family and watched the cheerleaders thinking, “I wish I could do that.”
After making the squad, he posted, “I am so grateful for this journey, the support, and the opportunity to make a little history along the way. I hope to represent and inspire what’s possible when you stay true to who you are.”
Mr. Conn was one of the first male dancers at Iowa State University.
The Vikings cheerleading team acknowledged Mr. Conn on his birthday in June, calling him an “amazing rookie” who has “brought so much energy, passion and pure purple pride to the MVC family.”
Messers. Shiek and Conn made their debut in the Vikings preseason opener last weekend against the Houston Texas and are expected to perform again on Saturday when the Vikings entertain the Patriots in Minneapolis.
Some disgruntled fans on social media threatened to cancel their season tickets or predicted the Vikings would lose money for having male dancers. The team reported no cancellations as of Friday.
Mr. Conn’s mother, Kathleen Conn, is upset at the backlash he has endured on social media.
“It makes me sick that people are so small-minded and so mean,” she said, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “For somebody with his talent and work ethic achieving these goals, just to get slammed for doing something he’s incredible at, passionate about, and doing something he loves.”