Even when the Washington Football Team tries to do good, things have a way of going very, very bad.
On Wednesday, Washington announced it would be discontinuing its cheerleader program after 59 years, replacing it with a "more inclusive" co-ed dance squad.
Petra Pope, who spent more than 30 years working in entertainment for NBA teams, has been hired to lead gameday entertainment and the creative direction of the new dance squad.
The problem? Washington apparently neglected to inform its cheerleaders in advance, so they found out on social media, like everyone else, that they'd essentially been fired.
Understandably angry, some of the 'First Ladies of Football' took to Twitter to vent, with a few of them even calling out team president Jason Wright directly.
It wasn't pretty...
(Editor's Note: Some of the tweets below contain NSFW language.)
We did. It’s beyond disrespectful & honestly this all has been a nightmare because of how this was all handled.🗑
— First Lady Candess (@1stLady_Candess) March 3, 2021
Yea same. I had such high hopes & respect when Jason & honestly Julie got hired as well but I’ve left the organization with the complete opposite opinion. Its all bad from the top down. Thank you for support however, it seriously means so much.
— First Lady Candess (@1stLady_Candess) March 3, 2021
There really wasn’t anything wrong with the @1stLadiesOfFB except that we deserve to be paid more and y’all office men can’t control their distrusting urges. We ARE super athletes and we are HIGHLY regarded in the pro dance industry. Y’all really fucked up on this one.
— Hannah (@HannahSeidel12) March 3, 2021
new team with....DANCERS, “SUPER ATHLETES” but only difference now is that...you have less women to potentially harass & will add some male spots (in an already male dominated league) to make the concept of game day entertainment more...palatable. Did I miss anything?
— First Lady Candess (@1stLady_Candess) March 3, 2021
& to dissolve the position of an OVERQUALIFIED Black Woman (Jamilla Keene-please google her & what contributions she’s made to the @WashingtonNFL) & to hire a White woman instead who is qualified yes, but has NO experience running a NFL cheer team or even WFT culture is...comedy.
— First Lady Candess (@1stLady_Candess) March 3, 2021
quite honestly she could learn from US in regards to the diversity aspect 🥴 in addition to many other things because well...we’ve been doing this (well, may I add) since ‘62.
— First Lady Candess (@1stLady_Candess) March 3, 2021
In the USA TODAY article Washington used to announce the news, Pope does say all of Washington's cheerleader contracts have expired and those women are welcome to audition for the 2021 dance squad.
If only, perhaps, the organization could have found a more polite way of communicating that to them directly, they wouldn't feel so hurt.
