Minnesota Vikings, the major league football team, has announced Blaize Shiek will be part of the cheerleader roster for 2025-26. He’s not the only male cheerleader on the roster, which also mentions Louie Conn.
Blaize Shiek will be part of the Minnesota Vikings cheerleader roster for 2025-26.(Minnesota Vikings)
However, the choice to have a male cheerleader has left many fans fuming. Notably, there was a time when only women were allowed on the cheerleading team, but that is now a dated idea.
Outsports reported that a third of the NFL now boasts of male cheerleaders, with Los Angeles Rams having at least seven men on the squad. The publication reported that despite the greater push towards inclusivity, a bias towards female cheerleaders remains – as they encountered significant difficulties in finding photographs of the male cheerleaders in action. On the other hand, there were plenty of photos of female cheerleaders at games.
Meanwhile, Vikings fans took to X to vent their frustrations.
How Vikings fans reacted to Blaize Shiek
MLFootball, a profile on X that claims to bring all news regarding the US sport, stated that many fans announced they were ‘canceling their season tickets’ due to the presence of a male cheerleader.
Another shared a photo of Blaize and sarcastically remarked “This is an actual cheerleader for the Minnesota Vikings,” following it up with a laughing emoticon.
“I’m so done with this state JFC,” exclaimed another.
“Apparently Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, personally made a huge push into Blaize getting hired by the Vikings,” commented another. However, there are no reports HT.com could find to back up this claim.
Other comments expressed a gamut of emotions, from rage to disgust. “YUCK!,” said one user, while another said, “As much as I love my Minnesota Vikings, I will not be supporting them any longer after I found out they have a male cheerleader. Im so done with this woke, bullsh*t!”
Diversity among cheerleaders in football
Blaize and the Vikings are facing a backlash, but even for teams who have gone with male cheerleaders, some biases shine through.
Teams like Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans have men, but they don’t dance alongside the women with pom poms. They are part of the stunt routines, Outsports observed. Meanwhile, trailblazers are everywhere, and Carolina Panthers are setting the tone with Justine Lindsay, the only publicly out transgender cheerleader in the NFL.