Nearly lost in the shuffle of 9/11 coverage — from SNL‘s Pete Davidson honoring his late firefighter father, to Michael Schur writing how that horrible day affected Parks and Recreation and The Office — was the best tribute of all… cheerleaders dancing!
A video of the cheer squad at Lumberton High School in Texas performing a September 11-inspired routine, complete with audio from President Bush and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” has gone viral since being posted online by a student last week. One of the cheerleaders wrote on Twitter that it was meant as an “appreciation & acknowledgement for the ones effected in 9/11,” while cheer sponsor Lauren Sheffield added, “We do this because we believe it is very important to honor and remember the first responders, those who gave their lives, and those who still mourn the hole left by lost loved ones.” Others weren’t so forgiving:
https://twitter.com/LinerElaine/status/642824975460597760
https://twitter.com/thejessdesserts/status/642902026561548288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/DoctorMeowskis/status/642748312978722816
Sheffield also told E! Online:
“It is certainly never anything we could have ever imagined,” she said. “We are totally humbled that something we work hard on, year after year, can make such a huge impact,” continuing, “One of our cheerleaders, Rachel Richard, put it perfectly, ‘This wasn’t a way for us to show off. It was a way for us to use our skills in honor of our country.'” (Via)
Lumberton cheerleaders have performed a tribute to 9/11 every year since 2002, but video of the performance hasn’t been seen worldwide until now, which the uploader is very proud and defensive of. “My face is being shown all over American,” she wrote on YouTube, “and perhaps will also be shown all over to Japan soon. So anybody that has something bad to say, f*ck you all. I’m going viral.”
F*ck you all, I’m going viral — now THERE’S a tribute to America.
