The six-year-old cheerleader and the 'booty chant' debate
Should a child cheerleader be chanting about the tightness of her skirt? No, said her protesting parents — costing their daughter her spot on the squad

The video: In a "Today" interview, Jennifer and Duane Tesch of Madison Heights, MI, bemoan the fact that their young daughter Kennedy, 6, was kicked off a local flag-football cheerleading squad after the Tesches questioned the appropriateness of one of the chants. (The lyrics: "Our backs ache, our skirts are too tight, we shake our booties from left to right.") Though Kennedy could technically return to the field after a year's "probation," her father says her cheerleading days are over: "We're probably going to look to get her into gymnastics."
The reaction:"I'm torn," says Paula Bernstein at Babble. It's certainly "inappropriate for kids to be saying these words," and "I'm appalled by anything that sexualizes children," but some of the media's reaction to the chant — Fox News invoked pedophilia — "sounds just a bit alarmist to me." Are we becoming overly sensitized to this issue? "I remember my friends and I (back in the 70s) singing a similar tune." Putting a six-year-old on "probation"? gripes Hortense Smith at Jezebel. What a "classy and adult way to handle a parents' concerns." The only takeaway for Kennedy, here, is that "speaking out about your concerns is a one-way ticket to punishment." Watch the clip:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff