The Washington Football Team is set to welcome a major change to their operations as they will reportedly replace female cheerleaders with coed dancers for the upcoming 2021 NFL season. The organization's first Ladies of Football' has been the longest-running cheer program in the league which has been around for more than 50 seasons.
Washington's new senior advisor in Petra Pope chose to make the bold move in a bid to have a “modern and diverse” look on the sidelines come 2021.
“We want to be more inclusive, so we are going to invite a coed entity (to audition),” Pope said to USA TODAY Sports.
“We’re able to do more things with the strength of a male, and lifts, so that’s changed a great deal. The inclusivity, strength and interest of choreography has changed.”
The Washington Football Team has been in hot water prior to the 2020 NFL season after former cheerleaders made allegations to multiple staff members. They allegedly filmed the cheerleaders while they were naked amidst a bikini calendar shoot back in 2008 and 2010.
A former staffer of the team claimed that the video was recorded for team owner Dan Snyder, which he eventually denied. In response to the situation, the team decided to reach a settlement with the cheerleaders last year. However, the league is still continuing their investigations on the team for other sexual allegations charged against them.
In addition, the Washington Football Team already decided to stop its production of bikini calendars for the time being. Hopefully, the new dynamics of the cheering squad would help the organization avoid any further involvement in anomalies moving forward.
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