What The Hell Is Going On With ‘Cheer’ And All Its Scandals?
HuffPost
The Netflix series has been embroiled in multiple scandals — and now, Navarro College coach Monica Aldama’s son has been arrested on child pornography charges.
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Just days after the three-year anniversary of docuseries “Cheer,” William Austin Aldama — son of Navarro College coach Monica Aldama — was arrested on Jan. 17 and “charged with 10 counts of possession with intent to promote child pornography,” per Jan. 23 reporting from the Dallas Morning News. In January 2020, the Netflix series introduced us to the nationally ranked Navarro College competitive cheerleading team. As swiftly as the team rose to fame and captivated hearts, the Corsicana, Texas, crew has fallen out of good graces, embroiled in myriad scandals.
In July 2022, former cheerleader and breakout star Jerry Harris was sentenced to 12 years in prison for soliciting sex and nude photos from minors. (He pleaded guilty to the charges.) Five months after Harris’ initial arrest in September 2020, team choreographer Robert Joseph Scianna Jr. and athlete Mitchell Ryan were separately arrested and accused of sexual misconduct with minors. Moreover, in April 2023, a former Navarro cheerleader filed a civil lawsuit accusing coach Aldama and the cheer program of discouraging her from reporting a sexual assault.
Then, Coach Aldama retired in December. So, what is the fate of this series? Will the show fade into oblivion? Will it be heralded as an indictment of the perils of competitive, predatory “cheer world” culture? Or will Netflix just conduct business as usual and pivot to focus on rival team Trinity Valley, merely 50 miles away from Corsicana?
The latter wouldn’t be all that far-fetched, considering “Love Is Blind” is still going strong after multiple lawsuits leveled against the streamer. Despite the fact that this “social experiment” has proven time and time again that love is not blind (in fact, it’s actually quite blurry), Season 6 of the series premieres in just over two weeks on Valentine’s Day.
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