No More Cheerleaders For The Washington Football Team: Report

ASHBURN, VA — The Washington Football Team will no longer have a cheerleading team, according to reports from USA Today and ESPN. The cheerleaders will be replaced by a co-ed dance squad.

Last month, the Washington Football Team said it had paused the cheerleading program as part of the company's ongoing rebrand. Petra Pope, whom the team recently hired as a senior adviser, told USA Today on Wednesday that the new dance team would be more modern and diverse.

Washington's current cheerleaders, the First Ladies of Football, will not be brought back. They are eligible to try out for the new dance team, according to ESPN. The cheerleaders' contracts expire March 31.

The co-ed nature of the team's new dance unit will focus heavily on athleticism, according to Pope. "We’re able to do more things with the strength of a male, and lifts, so that’s changed a great deal," Pope told USA Today. "The inclusivity, strength and interest of choreography has changed."

The removal of the cheerleading unit is the latest change for a franchise in the midst of a vast rebranding process. In July 2020, the Washington Football Team abandoned its former name and logo after years of controversy. Many fans and activists considered the team's previous name and logo as insensitive toward Native Americans.

The team also faced controversy within the cheerleading program. In 2020, more than 40 women claimed they were sexually harassed by those within the organization. Members of the 2008 and 2010 cheerleading squads told the Washington Post that team employees used outtakes from photo shoots to create unofficial videos. The video included footage of the women's nipples accidentally exposed as they adjusted props or poses during the shoot, according to the Washington Post.

The NFL is still investigating these claims of sexual harassment, ESPN reported. Last year, former cheerleaders reached a settlement with the team, according to USA Today and the Washington Post.

And a 2018 New York Times report detailed how team cheerleaders were allegedly used as escorts for sponsors and suite owners during a 2013 calendar shoot in Costa Rica in which some of them were told to pose topless despite the presence of onlookers.

The Times story said cheerleaders had their passports collected after arriving at a resort location, the adults-only Occidental Grand Papagayo on Culebra Bay. Some of them said they then were required to be topless during the photo shoot despite stadium suite holders and sponsors having been invited.

Later, the cheerleading team's director told nine of the 36 members they had been picked by male sponsors to be their personal escorts. Sex, they said, was not involved, but one said she felt the team was "pimping us out."

Stephanie Jojokian, team cheerleading director, denied to the Times that the night at the club was mandatory. She added the cheerleaders who went were not chosen by sponsors.