美国国家公共电台 NPR An NFL Cheerleader Brings Her Firing Over An Instagram Photo To The EEOC

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LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Bailey Davis was a Saintsation, a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints football team - that is until she posted a photo of herself in a one-piece outfit¹ on her private Instagram account. The Saints fired her for breaking rules that prohibit cheerleaders on the team from appearing nude², seminude or in lingerie. And that's not all she was prohibited from doing. Cheerleaders for the Saints have to leave parties or restaurants if players are there, and they can't have players follow them on social media. The company says it's to stop them from being preyed³ on by players, but the men don't have the same obligations. Davis filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission against both the NFL and the Saints. And she joins us now to talk about it. Hello.

BAILEY DAVIS: Hey, guys.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what were you wearing, exactly?

DAVIS: I was wearing a lace bodysuit. I'd actually worn it before with jeans as an outfit, so I can see where they would think it was lingerie. But I was not posing for a lingerie photo shoot, even though that's not the actual issue.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right. Tell us what, in your view, the actual issue is.

DAVIS: So the players have the freedom to post whatever they want to on social media. They can promote themselves. But we can't post anything on our social media about being a Saintsation. We can't have it in our profile picture. We can't use our last name for media. We can't promote ourselves. But the players don't have the same restrictions⁴.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And so your suit is basically alleging⁵ discrimination?

DAVIS: Right, that we have different rules and we are held to different standards than the football players.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Is it sexist, or is it just different rules for different categories of employees? You know, ultimately, football and cheerleading are gendered.

DAVIS: The football players have a different job than us, and I completely understand that. But as far as being in the same place as a player, and me being the one that has to be careful about where I'm at and watch out for them, that's so discriminating⁶. And also the fact that if I post something that - I'm in a swimsuit or in a body suit, it's seen as something sexual. But the players can post shirtless in their underwear and it's just seen as athletic⁷.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let me understand this correctly. So let's say you walk into a restaurant, and there's a player from the Saints there. He doesn't have to leave the restaurant, but you would.

DAVIS: Right. If I'm there first, I would still have to leave. And that's not just Saints players. That's any NFL team or NBA. So anybody from the Pelicans⁸ could walk in, and I would have to leave, or I would be fired.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You would have to recognize a whole lot of players.

DAVIS: Right, I mean, thousands.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: May I ask you why you became a cheerleader? You know, most cheerleaders, as we now understand, get minimum wage. Many squads⁹ have had to get only that through lawsuits¹⁰. But you are athletes, as well, as you just mentioned. When you joined, did these rules seem fair?

DAVIS: I kind of wanted to be a Saintsation as a stepping stone into my dance career because I knew there was a four-year cap on it. But by my third year - and I knew I had to start looking for another job in the dance world - I wanted to start promoting myself more, and there was no rule that I couldn't have my page public for people to find me. And so then when they said, well, you need to make your page private, so these players can't find you, that's when I realized, OK. You're making it harder for people to find me and for me to find another job as a dancer because social media is how we market ourselves nowadays.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What has been the response of your fellow teammates to your suit?

DAVIS: My fellow teammates have not been supportive to me. I've been told that I'm putting the team in a negative light. And then a lot of the girls have been posting stuff on social media saying that, you know, the organization is great and offers so many opportunities, which is true. And, I mean, I was the same way when I was in the organization. We're told so many times, there's a hundred other girls that would do your job for free. You're just taught to keep your mouth shut, or they would replace you. And so I think when you're in the organization, you don't realize that there's nothing OK about this.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Bailey Davis, former Saintsation, thank you so very much.

DAVIS: Thank y'all.