There’s a Sexual Abuse Scandal Brewing in the World of Competitive Cheerleading

For years, the U.S. competitive cheer scene has been roiled by allegation after allegation that cheer officials sexually abused minors and then attempted to cover it up. Now, a New Jersey cheerleading coach has been accused of sexually assaulting minors—and his mother has been charged with witness tampering in the investigation into him.

On Wednesday, Angela Ryker was charged with criminal attempt and witness tampering in relation to a 2022 police investigation into her son Jonathan Ryker, CBS News reported. Jonathan Ryker allegedly sent a shirtless selfie of himself to a 15-year-old cheerleader and groped her, and a 17-year-old cheerleader said he had sex with her. 

This is far from the only sexual abuse accusation to upend the intense world of competitive cheer in recent months, just a few years after the Larry Nassar scandal rocked gymnastics. In a 2020 investigation, USA Today uncovered almost 180 individuals who have faced charges related to sexual misconduct involving minors but were not banned from the sport by cheerleading’s government bodies, USA Cheer and the U.S. All Star Federation. More than 140 of those individuals had been convicted. Then, last summer, Jerry Harris, a star of the wildly popular Netflix series “Cheer,” was sentenced to 12 years in prison for soliciting child abuse imagery and sex from minors at cheerleading competitions. 

As of January 2023, at least 12 federal lawsuits have been filed in states spanning from California to South Carolina, accusing cheer officials of sexual abuse and creating a culture where minors were not protected from it, according to a tally by South Carolina Public Radio.

In one of those lawsuits, filed last year in South Carolina, nine defendants alleged that they were sexually abused by a prominent gym owner and coaches who worked at the gym. In its first few pages, that lawsuit illustrated the intensity and cost—both financial and emotional—of becoming a competitive cheerleader or supporting those who are. Some four million people are competitive cheerleaders in the United States, the lawsuit estimated, and the sport can easily cost thousands of dollars a season.

“Competitive cheer requires an extreme amount of commitment from athletes and their families, with near constant training, cross-training, and frequent competition travel through multiple seasons throughout the year,” the lawsuit alleged. “Given the costs of participating and competing, the competitive cheer industry is worth billions of dollars annually.”

The lawsuit describes a litany of alleged abuses of young people and of power, accusing the gym officials not only of sexual assault but also of giving alcohol and cannabis to underage teenagers as well as cajoling some to send explicit photos of themselves. The defendants named in the lawsuit, the lawsuit alleged, “together and individually have created, organized, and propagated a system of young-athlete abuse against innocent victims.” 

The gym owner named in the lawsuit died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in late August. Other defendants have denied the accusations of wrongdoing in court papers. 

Do you know anything about sexual abuse in competitive cheer? If so, reach out to reporter Carter Sherman at carter.sherman@vice.com or on Twitter at @carter_sherman.

The attorneys behind the lawsuit, though, told NPR that the case isn’t just about individual coaches and gyms. Instead, it’s about an industry and sport that, they say, is essentially run by one company: Varsity, which collects dues from gyms that associate themselves with the Varsity brand and, the lawsuit says, essentially controls the U.S. All Star Federation.

Varsity has publicly pushed back against the idea that it controls the federation or “any false narrative that erroneously suggests Varsity Spirit somehow willfully turned a blind eye to misconduct in cheer as part of a broader conspiracy,” as its president Bill Seely said in a statement weeks after the South Carolina lawsuit was filed. That statement detailed Varsity’s processes for protecting athletes, such as requiring background screenings at competitions and creating a committee to address safety initiatives.

“Allegations of sexual misconduct have been publicly levied against a number of all star cheer coaches working at gyms and others across the country,” Seely said. “These reports are incredibly disturbing, and the alleged behavior is abhorrent and unforgivable. Our concern, first and foremost, is for the survivors. Those responsible must feel the full weight of the law.”

The cheer gym Access Cheer—which was previously named RockStar Cheer and is where Ryker previously worked—said that it fired him when the allegations against him emerged in August 2021, according to a local ABC News affiliate.

“We are grateful to the NJ State Police for their commitment to the children of our state and we continue to work with them through this ongoing criminal matter,” the organization said. “We stand with all survivors of abuse and will continue to create the safest and most consistent place possible for children to compete in all star cheerleading.”

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