Used to watching from the sidelines with wide, bleached smiles and long, toned legs, this season’s NFL cheerleaders have remained stagnant and standing as an unprecedented wave of political protests has trickled onto the field.
Why haven’t they taken a knee? A new Elle investigation reveals that cheerleaders are “little fish in a big pond,” and “the league isn’t interested” in any opinions they may have on police brutality — or the systemic racism that induces it.
“I’m not shocked that they are not protesting,” one ex-cheerleader told Elle. “It’s not that we women don’t have an opinion; we have opinions. Many of us have other jobs while we are cheering, there are doctors and politicians out there on the field. We do this because we love to dance, and our job as cheerleaders isn’t to create controversy. It’s to make everyone happy.”
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