All-Star Cheerlebrities

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I don’t keep up with him since he blocked me on Twitter a few years ago.

I really think the number one and two things that people know about Santwon are that: 1) he’s an incredible athlete, and 2) he blocks people with girlish glee. I mean even I, a relative newbie to the current culture, am aware of this.
 
What were people doing that got such a strong response?

I think social media and individual videos (like 2by2 Videos) being put on YouTube played a huge part in creating 'Cheerlebrities'. In my opinion, very few would invite the attention on themselves but people would identify an athlete (they usually had a certain 'look' that Tye Hill is referring to on his post) and latch on to them. They were usually (but not always) flyers and all very talented but the thing with the Cheerlebrity trend is that it became all about them and not their team.

There would be guest appearances, stunt and tumble clinics with the focus being 'come to our clinic because ______ is gonna be here!', meet and greets, guest judge opportunities, magazine articles, advertising cheer products like hairspray, segments on TV news and I vaguely remember a youtube series happening called Secret Diary of an American Cheerleader amongst other things.

It also led to mass crowds following these poor athletes around at comps and cheer anons analysing their every move (and fall). As we know, this unfortunately still happens today to certain athletes but although things like meet and greets still happen, the "Cheerlebrity" side of things has died down in my opinion.

Basically, a lot of these athletes became very popular in the cheer world and this popularity was then exploited by many companies and milked as much as possible. Whilst these were great opportunities for the athletes involved, it took the focus away from the team and isn't really what cheer should be about.

Erica E has a youtube video that explains her perspective of being a "Cheerlebrity" around the time where things hit their peak (pretty sure she was in the youtube series).

I don't want this response to come across as rude to the athletes involved because they did what they felt was best at the time, just trying to explain :)
 
It's crazy to think it has died down when it feels SO constant, but I think the number of more popular athletes has increased and spread the wealth a little more. I remember a time when it was about 5 people that had ALL of the attention, and it was just all in overload, all of the time, at every competition. How Maddie G ever made it out alive and with her sanity I'll never know...
 
It's crazy to think it has died down when it feels SO constant, but I think the number of more popular athletes has increased and spread the wealth a little more. I remember a time when it was about 5 people that had ALL of the attention, and it was just all in overload, all of the time, at every competition. How Maddie G ever made it out alive and with her sanity I'll never know...


I actually think it had gotten worse. Atleast on social media. RC and KP fans are nuts and obsessive. I actually really feel bad for both.
 
I actually think it had gotten worse. Atleast on social media. RC and KP fans are nuts and obsessive. I actually really feel bad for both.


It's worse now in the sense that there are WHOLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS dedicated to certain kids like they're Beyonce.

I do not remember ever seeing (example) a Maddie Gardener fan page on IG.

Not that it is the athletes' fault but it is definitely creepy.

That and I think certain events, brand rep searches, the apparel brand model searches, etc. don't help with the push to be "cheer famous" especially with younger kiddos.

Ex: RockYourHair, Rebel, etc.
 
It's worse now in the sense that there are WHOLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS dedicated to certain kids like they're Beyonce.

I do not remember ever seeing (example) a Maddie Gardener fan page on IG.

Not that it is the athletes' fault but it is definitely creepy.

That and I think certain events, brand rep searches, the apparel brand model searches, etc. don't help with the push to be "cheer famous" especially with younger kiddos.

Ex: RockYourHair, Rebel, etc.
There was a huuuuuuuge amount of fake Maddie, Erica, Gabi, etc Facebook and Twitter accounts back in the day. We had threads that were hundreds of pages long on here outing them. Not fan accounts, but people actually pretending to be them, it was a massive problem. There were an equal number of actual fan accounts too.
 
It's worse now in the sense that there are WHOLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS dedicated to certain kids like they're Beyonce.

I do not remember ever seeing (example) a Maddie Gardener fan page on IG.

Not that it is the athletes' fault but it is definitely creepy.

That and I think certain events, brand rep searches, the apparel brand model searches, etc. don't help with the push to be "cheer famous" especially with younger kiddos.

Ex: RockYourHair, Rebel, etc.

EDIT: @luv2cheer92 beat me to it!
 
What were people doing that got such a strong response?
It's been pretty well answered by those above. The original cheerlebrities did not seek that status. They became famous because of their skill. It was always about the skill. Somewhere along the line that changed and we saw people actively trying to become famous. Many times they had 1 above average skill, a pretty face, and not much more. Everything changed. No longer were athletes put on a pedestal because they were the best athlete (with some rare exceptions). The thing is, how many forgotten 2nd generation cheerlebrities are there? Tons. I can't recall most of their names. Those of us that were around for the first generation, still remember the truly greats.
 
I think the birth of Instagram really lit a spark in the "Cheerleb" trend as the more picture ready the cheerleader was, the more likely she was to gain a following. Think of the time when half of the Cheetah flyers had super ripped abs - those were the girls you were seeing all over the internet. Were they the absolute best athletes on the team? No - but they took the most photos and made themselves marketable.
 
It's been pretty well answered by those above. The original cheerlebrities did not seek that status. They became famous because of their skill. It was always about the skill. Somewhere along the line that changed and we saw people actively trying to become famous. Many times they had 1 above average skill, a pretty face, and not much more. Everything changed. No longer were athletes put on a pedestal because they were the best athlete (with some rare exceptions). The thing is, how many forgotten 2nd generation cheerlebrities are there? Tons. I can't recall most of their names. Those of us that were around for the first generation, still remember the truly greats.
This. Then the Moms got involved and pushed for their kids to become a cheerlebrity. I remember my very first real life "experience" with this was in 2013 at NCA a mom was walking her daughter through the aisles in the packed arena asking people if they wanted her daughter's autograph.
I think the current version of today's cheerlebrity is a hybrid. There are those who have become well known because of their skills but then there is a whole new movement for the Mom-run 7 year old's IG account who is an #ambassador for everything and it seems nearly every kid who cheers that this has become more the focus than actual cheer.
 
I think the current version of today's cheerlebrity is a hybrid. There are those who have become well known because of their skills but then there is a whole new movement for the Mom-run 7 year old's IG account who is an #ambassador for everything and it seems nearly every kid who cheers that this has become more the focus than actual cheer.
I agree with this. Social media is just so enticing, and for these parents, I’m sure it just seems too easy to have their 7 y/o be a “famous” cheerleader. Some people are crazy!
 
It's worse now in the sense that there are WHOLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS dedicated to certain kids like they're Beyonce.

I do not remember ever seeing (example) a Maddie Gardener fan page on IG.

Not that it is the athletes' fault but it is definitely creepy.

That and I think certain events, brand rep searches, the apparel brand model searches, etc. don't help with the push to be "cheer famous" especially with younger kiddos.

Ex: RockYourHair, Rebel, etc.

The fan accounts make me super uncomfortable on behalf of the athlete. I can’t imagine being sixteen and seeing strangers create fan videos and edits based on my every move. I know that it’s supposed to be a flattering gesture, but it would creep me out.
 
The fan accounts make me super uncomfortable on behalf of the athlete. I can’t imagine being sixteen and seeing strangers create fan videos and edits based on my every move. I know that it’s supposed to be a flattering gesture, but it would creep me out.

Or posting their BABY PICTURES.

From a parenting standpoint, that would be a no from me.
 
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