Cheerleading Abuse

Cheerleading Abuse

FILE – Attorney Alexandra Benevento, center, speaks with reporters during a news conference announcing a cheerleader abuse lawsuit filed in Tennessee on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, in Memphis, Tenn. The American cheerleading company behind the sport’s top uniforms, camps and competitions is evaluating a possible defamation case against lawyers who have named the enterprise in a series of federal lawsuits alleging sexual abuse at gyms across the Southeast. In a letter sent Tuesday, Nov. 1, defamation attorney Thomas Clare accused civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers and lawyers with the Strom Law Firm of making false and defamatory statements about Varsity Spirit’s relationship to the alleged sexual abuse of cheerleaders by coaches at gyms in South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina.(AP Photo/Adrian Sainz, File)