Fan Backlash Against Male NFL Cheerleaders Intensifies, Vikings Issue Statement

Many NFL fans are furious over videos of male cheerleaders being introduced as part of the 2025 cheerleading squad for the Minnesota Vikings.

While male cheerleaders have been part of NFL squads for several years, a clip of rookie cheerleader Blaize Shiek being introduced went viral on social media, igniting significant backlash. Shiek is one of two male cheerleaders on the Vikings squad, joining Louie Conn this season. 

“Dear Minnesota Vikings, Just Stop. Sincerely, All Sane Americans,” one popular reply on X said. 

“Because nothing says ‘football’ like watching Chad do high kicks in booty shorts,” another person quipped.

????BREAKING: The Minnesota Vikings under MAJOR backlash after the team hires a MALE as their LEAD CHEERLEADER for the 2025-26 NFL football season.

Recent Videos of the cheerleader are going VIRAL online with many calling to cancel the team. pic.twitter.com/uwuMAWDTr2

— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) August 12, 2025

Others noted that even though male cheerleaders are nothing new, the presentation now is vastly different. 

“Im not opposed to male cheerleaders like those guys on college teams that help with stunts or whatever but I am opposed to guys holding pom poms,” one person observed, echoing what others have been saying about Shiek’s flamboyant, overly feminine look and behavior.

Shiek seemed to troll critics with a video posted on Instagram. In it, one female Vikings cheerleader asks another, “Wait, where are the boys?” to which the second woman replies, “I don’t know. I heard they were throwing a fit.”

Then Shiek and Conn strut forward with their pom poms, as Shiek dramatically flipped his hair back and forth.

“SEE YOU AT 3,” Shiek wrote in the caption, referencing kickoff time. He went on to cheer during a preseason Minnesota Vikings game against the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

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The response got so bad that the Vikings released a statement to NBC News on Wednesday.

“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.”

Per The Spun via Yahoo Sports, 12 out of the 32 NFL teams have male cheerleaders. And while many X users were celebrating that Shiek is at least a male who isn’t pretending to be female, that’s not the case everywhere. 

In 2022, Justine Lindsay became the first transgender-identifying man to become an NFL cheerleader with the Carolina Panthers.

“I have had so many parents of young kids in the trans community say thank you for what I’m doing and that their son or daughter is watching me,” Lindsay said at the time, per NFL.com. “They are so pleased to see that I’m tearing down that wall.”

Lindsay will be cheering again for the Panthers for the 2025 season.