Yes, This is a Nazi-Themed Cheerleader Routine
Image by Youtube
By Anne Cohen June 16, 2015
No, it’s not a Hitler Youth parade — it’s a cheerleading competition.
One of the teams competing in a cheerleading smackdown in the Mexican city of Guadalajara (in May) got slammed on social media last week when a video surfaced showing their highly offensive routine featuring swastikas, goose-stepping and “Sieg Heils” galore.
The cheery bunch included two dozen girls aged 10 to 16 and one boy, . All were dressed in camouflage and red armbands. In the ultimate act of subtlety, they also used a huge swastika banner as a prop and saluted, Nazi-style.
As Haaretz points out, criticism of the dance routine has mostly been leveled at those in charge of the competition, as some people point out that the munchkins probably didn’t realize that they were emulating a genocidal Fascist dictatorship.
But just to be safe, event organizer Enrique Casas has decided to keep the team’s identity secret because the commments “have been a little aggressive.”
“The comments have gone beyond freedom of expression … and have included direct insults against the girls.”
Right. I can’t imagine why.
Next time (because apparently, there will be one), Casas assures he will put safeguards in place “to avoid hurting people’s feelings.”
[h/t Heeb]
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
