by Gabrielle Okun
A National Football League(NFL) team will have male cheerleaders for the first time ever, according to a USA Today Wednesday report.
The Los Angeles Rams are changing NFL history by including male cheerleaders Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies as a part of their spirit squad, USA Today reported. LA natives Peron and Jinnies truly broke barriers by becoming the first male cheerleaders for any NFL team.
“I thought, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I do this?’” Peron said during an interview with “Good Morning America” Wednesday.
Jinnies emphasized the auditions were quite strenuous. “They were unlike anything I’ve ever been to. I’m used to getting a call after or an email,” Jinnies said, referring to other auditions. “This one was about three weeks long, and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process, but it was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back,” he added, according to ABC News.
LA Rams cheerleading captain Emily Leibert also praised the decision during the interview. “They really just fit the bill to be a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader. They are intelligent; they are eloquent; they are more than qualified to be ambassadors out in the community,” Leibert said. “They bring so much energy, and there’s something so magnetic about their performance; you really can’t take your eyes off them.”
Both the Baltimore Ravens and Indiana Colts have male members on their teams, but the men work as stuntmen rather than cheerleaders.