Waah. Waaaaaaaahhhhhh.
That’s the sound coming from many anti-gay right-wing commentators crying and hurt over the presence of a couple of male cheerleaders dancing with pom poms at an NFL game.
Wwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.
It’s the refrain shared this week by one Ben Shapiro, who has become one of the most anti-gay voices in conservative media. Shapiro has for years railed against same-sex marriage — which harms literally no one — and claimed that same-sex couples should not raise children.
Shapiro, a conservative Jew, is waaaaaaay to the right of even the current president of the United States when it comes to gay rights and same-sex marriage.
Ben Shapiro doesn’t like gay rights one bit.
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Now he’s taken the emergence of some video of Minnesota Vikings male cheerleaders to rail against not only the gay community, but another centerpiece of his narrow, anti-gay, anti-American, conservative view of United States culture: the NFL.
Shapiro, like so many anti-gay, anti-American conservative voices, has in recent years decided that the NFL’s embrace of gay and Black people makes the country’s most popular sports league a top focus of ire.
So when some men showed up on an NFL field — and in this case the Minnesota Vikings — not trying to hit each other as hard as they can and hurt each other, of course Shapiro (who couldn’t take a single one of those hits) had to weigh in.
“Some video has emerged of one Minnesota Vikings cheerleader, who is a flamingly gay man, who’s doing a Dylan Mulvaney impression.”
Mulvaney is a trans woman who famously became a focus of anti-trans ire when she drank some beer a couple of years ago. These Vikings cheerleaders are not trying to be trans, and they are not trying to be Mulvaney. Also, we have no idea if either of the two Vikings male cheerleaders are gay.
Undaunted by reality, Shapiro pressed on.
“I’m wondering why? Why? Why?” He continued on, clearly demonstrated his Harvard law degree with his analysis.
“Here we go. Why’s he doing the female moves?”
Fact check: There is no such thing in football as “female moves.” Both cheer and playing football are nongendered.
“He’s dancing around and swiveling his hips. It doesn’t have the same impact when it’s a dude as when it’s a lady. It’s like Bugs Bunny putting on a dress and lipstick and dancing around out there.”
First, as a conservative Jew, Shapiro admitted he probably isn’t supposed to be looking at any of the cheerleaders anyway. But here he is, worrying about how some dancers appear, which are men, and which are women.
Then the moment of truth:
“Who’s the audience for this?” He asked.
It’s clear that NFL fans are the audience for this. As the Vikings said this week: Not one single season-ticket holder for the team has canceled their order. Not one. Despite anti-gay whiners like Shapiro crying enough right-wing tears to fill a tumbler.
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NFL fans don’t care who’s cheering on their team. They just care that someone is. That the team is there. That it’s competing to win the next game, and then an NFL Playoffs game and then the Super Bowl.
People like Ben Shapiro are creeps and uninvited voices in this conversation. He doesn’t care about the NFL. He cares only when someone dares upset his own perceptions of who should and should not be on a football field, and what they should be wearing.
I can only imagine the things he’d say about a strong, masculine NFL player being out and proud as a gay man. Given how much Shapiro has spoken out against gay people, no doubt he’d have an issue with them too.
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