--- title: Here's Why You're Seeing Male Cheerleaders at the Super Bowl description: The Los Angeles Rams feature two male cheerleaders on their squad — a big change for Super Bowl cheer appearances. canonical: https://time.com/5518564/male-cheerleaders-super-bowl/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-03T11:45:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T01:05:33.000Z og:title: Here's Why You're Seeing Male Cheerleaders at the Super Bowl og:description: Here's why the Rams have men on their cheer squad og:url: https://time.com/5518564/male-cheerleaders-super-bowl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why You're Seeing Male Cheerleaders at the Super Bowl twitter:description: Here's why the Rams have men on their cheer squad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Why You're Seeing Male Cheerleaders at the Super Bowl Tonight > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f2143242-68dd-498e-a63d-b5767bb11c7b&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: These Are the Best Super Bowl 2019 Commercials [Watch (HLS stream): These Are the Best Super Bowl 2019 Commercials](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IpM4qDrT.m3u8) (3:56)  _Published 2019-02-01. The main show at the 2019 Super Bowl will be on the field, with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots facing off against Jared Goff and his Los Angeles Rams_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:05 AM UTCPublished: Feb 3, 2019 11:45 AM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 1:05 AM UTCPublished: Feb 3, 2019 11:45 AM UTC Don’t call them “stunt men:” Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron are official [Los Angeles Rams](http://time.com/5508298/super-bowl-rams-patriots/) cheerleaders, part of a 40-person cheer squad helping pump up their team’s spirits at [Super Bowl 53](http://time.com/5501622/maroon-5-travis-scott-super-bowl-53/) in Atlanta, Georgia tonight. They inspired the Rams inspired the male cheerleader meme, and this marks the first appearance of officially-designated male cheerleaders in the [Super Bowl’s history](http://time.com/5510210/simpsons-super-bowl-predictions/). (Previously, men who joined their female counterparts in [Super Bowl](http://time.com/5515400/best-super-bowl-commercials-2019/) cheer squads were described as the “male stunt team.”) Jinnies and Peron tried out for the team just like any other cheerleader nearly a year ago — and they got the jobs. “If you have the talent and skill set, you shouldn’t be discriminated on the basis of sex,” Molly Higgins, team vice president of community affairs and engagement, [told _USA Today_](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2019/01/31/super-bowl-2019-rams-male-cheerleaders-history/2730673002/). “My hope is that this is going to become the new normal.” Jinnies agreed: “Especially the world of entertainment is in a place of being open, and if you can do the job, why not,” [he told _CBS News_](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-2019-meet-the-los-angeles-rams-male-cheerleaders-making-history/). Both Jinnies and Peron are trained as dancers, according to their social media, and while they leave the crop-top-wearing to their female teammates, they perform much of the same choreography. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The world tell you to wait, that waiting is polite and good things would just come but if I waited to be invited in. I never would have stood out. Don't wait to be given power because, here is what they won't tell you, we already have it. [ MUSIC ] I'll take a coke. Is Pepsi okay? Is Pepsi okay? Is Pepsi okay? Pepsi is more than okay, it's. [ MUSIC ] Now it's hot. How many Pringles flavor stack combinations are there? 318, 000, sadly, I'll never know the joy of tasting any for I have no hands to stack with, no mouth to taste with, No soul to feel with. I am at the mercy of a cruel and uncaring. Cool, play Funkytown. I love video games, my friends, my family, and again, video games. It's his way of interacting with his friends when he can't. Physically otherwise do it. It's difficult for me to use both joysticks and the [ UNKNOWN ] at the exact same time. What I like about the adaptive controller is that now everyone can play. One of the biggest fears early on is, how will Owen be viewed by the other kids? He is not different when he plays. No matter how your body is or how fast you are you can play, it's a really good thing to have in this world. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] Ordering dog food. Ordering dog food. You can bark all you want, I'm not paying for anymore dog food. [ NOISE ] Ordering gravy. Orderings sausages . >> Hey, you better cancel that order. [ SOUND ] I'm not talking to you. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] And people think I'm nuts. [ MUSIC ] Is there in clench time. I'm a close talker. So I was excited about all new Colgate Total. Now there's no such thing as too close. Yes, there is. No, there's not. Yes, there is. No, there's not. 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