Jim Jeffries pushed back against the working conditions faced by NFL cheerleaders with his own squad, whose members are much better paid.
On “The Jim Jefferies Show” Tuesday, he talked about the New York Times story about Washington Redskins cheerleaders who say during a recent trip they were forced, among other things, to serve as escorts for wealthy sponsors.
“Now I’m not scientist but that sounds a lot like sexual harassment,” Jefferies said. “I remember when the Washington Redskins were just a team with a racist logo.”
Jefferies connected the story to conditions faced by cheerleaders across the NFL, such as penalties for conduct applied to cheerleaders but not players. He also noted a cheerleader guidebook for the former Buffalo Bills’ cheerleading squad, the Buffalo Jills, that included rules for how often to change tampons, and how to eat soup.
“To be fair, the Buffalo jills aren’t mistreated anymore,” he said. “Because the program was ended after the Buffalo Jills filed a lawsuit and attempted to unionize. So it’s all sorted.”
Jefferies then noted low pay like the $150 per-game earned by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. “Meanwhile, some mascots are paid as much as $65,000 a year. And they’re allowed to eat soup however they want,” he said.
Noting that if the same cheerleaders appeared on his show he’d have to pay them union rates that are “five times” higher than those for NFL cheerleaders, he unveiled the “Jim Jefferettes,” the “highest-paid professional cheerleaders in the country.”
Jefferies promised: “I won’t tell them how to eat soup. They can eat it however they want.”
Watch the whole clip above.