Redskins Cheerleaders Cause Crisis In India

7:46 pm EST April 30th, 2008 | Sports | 15 Comments

redskins cheerleaders in indiaWhat’s the matter with India?

The Washington Redskins cheerleaders were brought in to show India’s cricket fans how to shake their pompoms — but not everyone was impressed.

The New Delhi team said Wednesday it was switching its cheerleaders for a band of drummers. Mumbai politicians have forced theirs to cover up, saying their performances were lewd and not appropriate for India’s traditional culture.

…

The backlash began in Mumbai last week when lawmakers from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party pressed to get cheerleaders banned from the home games of the local team, the Mumbai Indians.

“See the pictures of these girls in the newspapers? This is not something you can allow inside your house, or something that you can look at in the presence of your sister or daughter,” said Nitin Gadkari, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s president for the state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is its capital.

“It may be a good thing for America, for the U.S.A., it’s not a good thing for India, for our kind of culture,” Gadkari said.

Police vowed to keep scantily clad dancers out of public view.

“We will take action,” said Mumbai police officer Ramrao Wagh. “The government has said it will not allow obscenities on the field.” He did not elaborate.

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15 Responses to “Redskins Cheerleaders Cause Crisis In India”

  1. midderpidge says:
    April 30, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    That’s weird because while watching a Bollywood musical number once I swear the lead actor was symbolically raping a chicken. They didn’t cry foul on that one.

  2. Sean D. Martin says:
    April 30, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    “It may be a good thing for America, for the U.S.A., it’s not a good thing for India, for our kind of culture,” Gadkari said.

    That’s actually very fair. He’s not condemning America for what we like in cheerleaders, just saying it isn’t to India’s taste. Actually, a very refreshing attitude after all the folks (especially the American politicians/radio hosts/preachers/people in general) who take the “I don’t like this therefore you don’t get to have it.” stance.

  3. KXB says:
    April 30, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    Oh hooey – most Indians went to the matches, had a good time, and then went home. Most Indian voters are more concerned about rising food prices than bare midriffs.

  4. doug r says:
    April 30, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Isn’t there statues of the Karma Sutra on some temples?

  5. SpiderJ says:
    May 1, 2008 at 9:27 am

    India is a conflicted, conflicted nation, especially when it comes to sex. Not only are parts of the Kama Sutra displayed in public, there are stone statues of phalluses in certain places. Bollywood films feature some of the raciest costumes and choreography found in any mainstream entertainment. But at the same time there’s this loud and powerful push to keep the place as modest about sex as the Muslim countries that surround it.

    Honestly, we’re not that different. Places and proportions, that’s all that changes.

  6. Quaker in a Basement says:
    May 1, 2008 at 10:40 am

    The Quaker told you. Did you listen? You did not.

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    May 1, 2008 at 10:42 am

    @ ‘Pidge: Cry foul? Or cry fowl?

  8. Duros62 says:
    May 1, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Most Indian voters are more concerned about rising food prices than bare midriffs.

    You can’t swing a cat in India without hitting a bare midriff.

    And that ain’t a bad thing, in my opinion.
    Perhaps the Redskins cheerleaders were just too….pasty for their..
    No, what am I saying? Cheerleaders at a cricket match? Come on! Isn’t that sort of like a halftime show for golf?

  9. Howie says:
    May 1, 2008 at 11:39 am

    They fear the boobies? Boobies are all powerful. They even brought me to this post!

  10. SpiderJ says:
    May 1, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    I bow to the Quaker’s foresight.

  11. bryan says:
    May 2, 2008 at 4:52 am

    Duros, this isn’t cricket like it was 20 years ago; it’s faster, and there’s some big monet in this new league. In the UK, we have something called 20/20, which is not dissimilar. I like the 5 day test matches on TV. The trick is not to watch it all the time, but to have it on so you can concentrate when you need to, a bit like MTV IMO.
    India has a scandal when a film shows a man and a woman kissing.
    I’ve never really understood the point of cheerleaders. They just distarct me from watching a sport by giving me the horn.

  12. bryan says:
    May 2, 2008 at 4:53 am

    money, not monet, damn!

  13. Duros62 says:
    May 2, 2008 at 11:14 am

    I’ve never really understood the point of cheerleaders. They just distract me from watching a sport by giving me the horn.

    Exactly my point.

  14. Quaker in a Basement says:
    May 2, 2008 at 11:49 am

    “The horn”?

    Bwaha!

  15. bryan says:
    May 3, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Have you never heard the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore ‘Derick and Clive’ recording about ‘getting the horn’? Filthy and yet hilarious.
    A puerile (but funny) British comic called “Viz” has a feature called “Roger’s Profanisaurous”, listing smutty slang terms such as this. My other favourite ones for ‘the horn’ are ‘diamond cutter’ and ‘horses hand-brake’