Male cheerleaders to perform at Super Bowl
Los Angeles Rams male cheerleaders Quinton Peron and Napolean Jinnies will perform at the Super Bowl (Los Angeles Rams)
Two male cheerleaders for the Los Angeles Rams will make history with a performance at the NFL Super Bowl.
Quinton Peron and Napolean Jinnies are set to perform at the much-anticipated Super Bowl game on February 3.
The pair, who joined the Rams’ previously all-female cheerleading squad at the start of the 2018 season, will become the first male cheerleaders in Super Bowl history as the Los Angeles Rams face off against the New England Patriots.
“I want to prove that boys can dance, too.”
— Quinton Peron
Speaking as he joined the squad in 2018, Peron said: “I want to prove that boys can dance, too. After college we’re not given a choice or a chance to do anything after. We’re, like, just told to get a 9-to-5 job and that’s it, but that doesn’t work for me!
“I am an artist, I am a creative person… and we can do it, we can hang with the girls!”
Los Angles Rams say male cheerleaders ‘will fit in’ ahead of Super Bowl
Speaking to ABC about the pair last year, Rams cheerleader captain Emily Leibert said: “They really just fit the bill to be a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader.
“They are intelligent, they are eloquent, they are more than qualified to be ambassadors out in the community.
“They bring so much energy, and there’s something so magnetic about their performance, you really can’t take your eyes off them.”
Los Angeles Rams male cheerleader Quinton Peron will perform at the Super Bowl. (Los Angeles Rams)
Of the auditions to join the squad, Jinnies said: “They were unlike anything I’ve ever been to. I’m used to getting a call after or an email… this one was about three weeks long and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process.
“It was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back.”
Other teams including the New Orleans Saints also have male cheerleaders, but the Rams are the first mixed-cheerleader team to compete at the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl contenders Los Angeles Rams: NFL’s most LGBT-inclusive team
The Los Angles Rams have a long history as one of the NFL’s most inclusive clubs, with gay NFL star Michael Sam drafted to the Rams squad in 2014.
Sam was the first openly gay player in NFL history, and has since opened up about experiencing mental health problems as a result of the intense media focus.
The player was later cut from the Rams squad, and announced his retirement from the sport in 2015 after stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Montreal Alouettes.
In 2017, the Los Angeles Rams become the first team to sponsor an LGBT Pride event.
The LA-based team sponsored the Venice Pride event in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.
Molly Higgins, VP of Community Affairs for the Los Angeles Rams, said: “We are proud to work with Venice Pride and to stand in alignment with the LGBT community that is such an important part of the fabric of Los Angeles.
“Inclusion has always been a valued part of our organization and we see this as a unique way to publicly celebrate the diversity that makes this community so special.”
