The Minnesota Vikings’ male cheerleaders are making waves again in a viral video.
Blaze Shiek and Louie Conn filmed a TikTok dance video posted a week ago, which has gained traction since, alongside female Minnesota cheerleaders Brianna Putney and Jenna Kathlyn to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts.”
Critics of Conn and Shiek were left wondering why they are “invading women’s spaces,” as one X user put in their comment, before asking fans to “boycott Minnesota and the NFL.”
Another felt that seeing the male cheerleader “follow” their female counterparts into the bathroom is “just mocking Americans,” while others questioned what the video was hoping to accomplish.
“First the Minnesota Vikings wanted us to support male cheerleaders. Now they want us to celebrate that males should be allowed in the female bathrooms,” an X user wrote.
The video starts with Putney and Kathlyn in their white uniforms waving their gold pom-poms low in front of a bathroom sink in Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
Sheik and Conn then slide in behind them and wave theirs high.
The video was captioned: “NEW MEN ON THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS.”
The video, which received more than 3.4 million views on TikTok on Putney’s account, was made as a show of support for Shiek and Conn, who became the center of controversy last week after fans saw them perform at the Vikings’ preseason game with the Patriots.
Many showed support for the cheerleaders in the comments on the video, including Lizzo herself.
“LETS GOOOO! I need to come to a game!” the rapper wrote.
The Rams’ official account also commented, “YESSSSSS” as the team was the first to introduce male cheerleaders in 2018.
“All I see is baddies,” one TikTok user wrote.
Another added: “10s across the board.”
Conn and Shiek, who have yet to address the backlash from the TikTok video, did hit back against the general outcry with an Instagram post that included a picture of the two and the caption: “wait…did someone say our name?”
About one-third of NFL teams feature male cheerleaders, with the Eagles having the largest contingent with three.
The Vikings open the regular season on Sept 8 in Chicago against the Bears on “Monday Night Football.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
