For the first time since its inception, the NFL will have male cheerleaders on its sidelines in its upcoming season.
Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron were the first two men to be selected in March and will be cheering on the Los Angeles Rams.
"I thought, 'Why not me? Why can't I do this?' And called my friend and I asked her when auditions were for the Rams, and she told me Sunday [March 11], and I showed up," Peron told Good Morning America.
Jinnies said auditioning for the Rams was more rigorous than his other gigs.
"They were unlike anything I've ever been to. I'm used to getting a call after or an email," Jinnies said of the process. "This one was about three weeks long, and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process, but it was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back."
Rams team captain Emily Leibert believe the pair fit perfectly, regardless of their gender.
"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," Leibert said. "They bring so much energy, and there's something so magnetic about their performance, you really can't take your eyes off them."
When he found out about Jinnies and Peron, Jesse Hernandez decided to try out for the New Orleans Saintsations and made it onto the team, according to NFL.com.
"My mom had sent me a link about the L.A. Rams cheerleaders that just had made the team a couple weeks ago," Hernandez said in April. "She told me that it was my time to shine.”
The Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts have men who assist their female cheerleaders with stunts, but they never dance, according to USA Today.
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