U.S. Senator Issues Warning To NFL Teams With Male Cheerleaders originally appeared on The Spun.
The addition of male cheerleaders to an NFL team appears to have deeply offended the sensibilities of a ton of people, including a sitting U.S. Senator.
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Appearing on OutKick’s Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, a former college football head coach in his own right, railed against the Minnesota Vikings adding a pair of male cheerleaders to their squad. While not the first time male cheerleaders have appeared in the NFL, he called out the NFL for being “woke” and trying to take “take the masculinity out” of the sport.
“I would like to ask the ownership of the NFL and the commissioner, what the hell are you doing?” Tuberville began. “If you’re going to be woke, and if you’re going to try to take the men out of men’s sports, which is what they’re doing, they’re trying to take gender and try and make it more about gender than about masculinity, then you’re going to have a huge problem.”
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The conversation goes off the rails a bit
Tuberville then railed against the state of Minnesota, socialism and gender identities before issuing a warning that male cheerleaders had better not become a thing in the South. He believes that adding just two male cheerleaders can become a slippery slope.
“You can see Minnesota doing it, they’re one of the blue states, we’ve lost them, and they’re more into socialism and it’s about 150 genders. But at the end of the day, I hope to God it doesn’t come South,” he said.
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“This is not about just a couple of people being men cheerleaders, it’s about pushing a narrative about wanting to put gender into sports and let everyone know that we’re going to take the masculinity out of it a little bit, and that’s not going to happen in the South.”
As OutKick pointed out, the Los Angeles Rams introduced male cheerleaders in 2018 followed by the Baltimore Ravens.
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 01: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) walks out of the Senate Chambers during a nomination vote in the U.S. Capitol Building on August 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to leave for August recess with action on several pieces of legislation still currently outstanding, including votes on Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the PACT Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Male cheerleaders in the South
There’s never been a shortage of male cheerleaders in football, though usually they’re most noticeable for being supportive of the female cheerleaders in pompoms.
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As far as Tuberville’s fear that male cheerleaders will become a thing in the South, that ship sailed ages ago.
These are the last three photos shared on Instagram of the Auburn Tigers cheerleading team, the school that Tuberville previously coached from 1999 to 2008:
But if Tuberville’s sole concern is seeing men using the pompoms then that’s a horse of a different color.
There are reports that some Vikings season-ticket holders are already canceling their tickets in response to the news.
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Whether fans really put their money where their mouth is remains to be seen.
U.S. Senator Issues Warning To NFL Teams With Male Cheerleaders first appeared on The Spun on Aug 19, 2025
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Aug 19, 2025, where it first appeared.