The Minnesota Vikings’ decision to include two male cheerleaders on their squad for the 2025 season has sparked fierce debate across the NFL landscape, drawing pointed criticism from former team captain Jack Brewer and conservative political figures such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
The team recently announced that Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn would be joining its cheerleading lineup, a move that has divided fans and ignited a cultural discussion about masculinity, tradition, and inclusivity in professional sports.
Brewer, who captained the Vikings during his NFL career and has since become a vocal conservative commentator, did not mince words when speaking to Fox News Digital.
“As a former Viking team captain who grew up a Viking fan—my dad’s been a Viking fan since 1972—I’ve never been so disgusted and embarrassed to even have any association with the Minnesota Vikings brand,” Brewer said. “I think I speak for a lot of other former players and Viking fans when I say that this does not represent this great franchise. Now we’re being represented with men with pom-poms on the sideline. It’s sickening. No man needs to ever have a pom-pom in their hand.”
Brewer accused the organisation of sending damaging cultural signals to children by allowing male cheerleaders on the sidelines. “This is purely an attempt to manipulate young children, to overtake the minds of young children with this spiritual evilness,” he said. “They are teaching young boys that it’s okay to have pom-poms and cheer and act like women.”
He went further, warning that the decision would particularly harm minority boys. “This is directly preying on the vulnerable… particularly of minority families,” Brewer argued. “The vast majority of them live with their mamas. They don’t live with their dad. So you take these kids that are already living with their mama, ain’t got no masculinity around them, and then you war in their mind in what has been known to the world as the most masculine sport, the most masculine team sport in the world, and you’re starting to feminize that in front of these children.”
While Brewer’s comments have drawn support from some corners, they also come against a backdrop of wider changes in cheerleading across the NFL. The Los Angeles Rams became the first NFL franchise to employ male cheerleaders in 2018, followed by the Baltimore Ravens and other teams. The Carolina Panthers also made history by featuring the first transgender cheerleader, although she is no longer part of the squad.
The Vikings, however, have found themselves at the centre of a broader political storm. The controversy escalated after Shiek and Conn spoke out against online criticism, with the team issuing a statement defending their inclusion.
“Male cheerleaders have been part of previous Vikings teams and have long been associated with collegiate and professional cheerleading,” the organisation told NBC News. “We support all our cheerleaders and are proud of the role they play as ambassadors of the organisation.”
But the defence has done little to quell conservative backlash. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Alabama Republican and former Auburn University football coach, joined the debate on OutKick’s Hot Mic, questioning the NFL’s direction.
“I would like to ask the ownership of the NFL and the commissioner, what the hell are you doing?” Tuberville said. “You’ve got the No. 1 sport on planet Earth in terms of people watching it. Your business is growing, it’s getting better and better. But if you’re going to be woke and you’re gonna try to take the men out of men’s sports, which is what you’re doing, then you’re going to have a huge problem. It’s coming.”
Tuberville warned that allowing male cheerleaders could alienate fans. “People will actually quit buying tickets because this is the narrative they’re trying to push,” he said. “This is not just about a couple of people being men cheerleaders. It is about pushing a narrative that you want to put gender into sports and let everyone know we’re trying to show, ‘Hey, we’re going to take the masculinity out of it a little bit.’”
Brewer praised Tuberville for speaking out. “Thank God for Tommy Tuberville, who came out with a strong statement standing up against that—one of the greatest college football coaches in the history of the game—because he knows he has a voice,” Brewer said. “He’s trying to speak out, not just for his perspective, but for the perspective of the vast majority of coaches, players, and even fans. This is not supported by the fans. What do you think a fan comes to an NFL game to watch?”
He went on to argue that fans expect to see football played at the highest level, accompanied by traditional cheerleading. “Do you think they come to watch men with pom-poms, or do they come to watch hard-nosed football played at a high level with sportsmanship, great plays, great athletes, and actual skillful female cheerleaders on the sideline with some male cheerleaders who are there to pick them up and throw them, catch them, but not to wave pom-poms?” Brewer said.
Despite the uproar, Shiek and Conn have embraced their roles. Shiek, in his first season with the Vikings, celebrated his rookie status in a social media post back in May. Conn previously performed as part of the Iowa State Cyclones dance team before joining the Vikings squad.
For the Vikings, the move reflects a broader effort to diversify and modernise the image of NFL cheerleading, bringing it more in line with collegiate and competitive dance traditions. But with critics like Brewer and Tuberville framing the decision as a cultural flashpoint, the issue has transcended sports and become yet another battleground in America’s ongoing debate over gender, masculinity, and identity.
As the NFL season approaches, the presence of Shiek and Conn on the sidelines at U.S. Bank Stadium ensures that the Vikings will remain in the national spotlight — for reasons extending far beyond their performance on the field.