For many years, it seemed like certain traditions would never change. Barbie will always end up with Ken, Valentine’s Day will always have those little hearts that taste like chalk, and the NFL will always have exclusively female cheerleaders.
But we’ve recently seen market forces and pioneering individuals start to break those traditions.
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Mattel is considering a same-sex Barbie wedding set, there won’t be any candy hearts this year, and as we’re about to discuss, the NFL welcomed its first male cheerleaders this season.
And two of those men are about to make Super Bowl history.
On Sunday, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will be awash with Super Bowl fever.
There, frequent Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots will face off against the Los Angeles Rams.
But while a Super Bowl championship would be nothing new for either team, something new will definitely be going on at the sidelines.
When the big event happens, Rams cheerleaders Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies will become the first men to ever fill the role on Superbowl Sunday.
As the pair showed during an interview with former NFL pro Michael Strahan on Good Morning America , the prospect of dancing at the Superbowl nearly left them speechless, with Peron (left) describing it as “like a fairy tale.”
Peron also expressed his excitement on Twitter with an appropriately enthusiastic photo of him and Jinnies.
But while this is undoubtedly a big step for the squad-mates, it’s also not even the first time in the past year that they’ve made their historic mark.
After all, both men became some of the first male cheerleaders to ever support an NFL team back in March when they made the Rams’ squad.
According to The Boston Globe , both Jinnies and Peron had danced professionally for over a decade and have a wide variety of troupes on their resumés.
In Peron’s case, that experience was part of why he was confident that he could make the Rams’ squad.
According to CNN , Peron said, “I was at (an L.A.) Lakers game (right before making the team) and I was watching the Laker Girls, and I was asking myself, ‘Why can’t I be down there?’ I’ve choreographed for girls who dance on pro teams, I’ve danced with girls on various pro teams. I just thought, ‘why not me?'”
Some astute football fans might wonder how Peron and Jinnies can be the first male cheerleaders when they’ve seen other men support cheer squads in the past.
Indeed, The Boston Globe confirmed that teams like the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens have used stunt performers before.
However, there’s a difference between what they did and what the cheerleaders do now.
It all boils down to the fact that those stunt performers don’t dance.
However, as CNN reported, Peron and Jinnies do the same moves as their female teammates alongside them.
The stunt performers’ job may have seemed similar to the cheerleader’s but they filled a different role entirely.
Ever since their Rams’ audition, Jinnies and Peron already have reason to say that they’re inspiring others.
I said earlier that the pair are “some” of the first male cheerleaders the NFL has ever seen.
That’s because there is one other I haven’t mentioned yet: Jesse Hernandez from the New Orleans Saints’ cheer squad. According to CNN , he was inspired to try out for the “Saintsations” team after he saw Jinnies and Peron’s achievements.
