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Two male Vikings cheerleaders don’t appear to be taking any of the backlash that they’ve gotten from some soccer followers to coronary heart because the crew introduced their inclusion within the 2025 squad in a publish on social media.
Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn can be members of the Vikings cheer crew, which sparked criticism and even some followers threatening to not be followers of the crew anymore.
Nevertheless, Shiek appeared to deal with the controversy by poking enjoyable at all the folks discussing him.
“Wait…did somebody say our identify?” Shiek wrote in a publish on Instagram that included a photograph of himself and Conn of their cheer uniforms.
The Vikings additionally responded to the controversy in an announcement final week, defending Shiek and Conn.
“Whereas many followers could also be seeing male cheerleaders for the primary time at Vikings video games, male cheerleaders have been a part of earlier Vikings groups and have lengthy been related to collegiate {and professional} cheerleading,” the crew stated in an announcement.
“In 2025, roughly one-third of NFL groups have male cheerleaders. Each member of the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders program has a formidable dance background and went by the identical rigorous audition course of. People have been chosen due to their expertise, ardour for dance and dedication to elevating the sport day expertise. We help all our cheerleaders and are pleased with the position they play as ambassadors of the group.”
The Rams are stated to have been the primary NFL crew to incorporate males on their cheerleading squad again in 2018.
Conn had been a member of the Iowa State Cyclones dance crew earlier than making the Vikings squad, based on Fox Information.
Whereas some followers have threatened to cancel their season tickets due to Shiek and Conn’s inclusion on the cheer crew, the Vikings instructed NBC Information that no followers have finished so.
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