‘Cheer’ Scores Emmy Nominations for Scandal-Plagued Season

The second season of Cheer premiered on Netflix earlier this year, and despite the controversy surrounding the show due to Jerry Harris, it received some love from the Television Academy. Nominations for the 2022 Emmy Awards were announced this week, and Cheer was nominated three times. The cheerleading docuseries is nominated for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program, Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program and Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program

Season 2 of Cheer premiered in January two years after the first season premiered. The second season focused on Navarro College and Trinity Valley College competing for the national championship in 2021. But it also took a look at the 2020 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Harris who recently received a 12-year prison sentence for sex crimes against minors. Earlier this year, Cheer star and Navarro College coach Monica Aldama appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and talked about when they first learned about the Harris allegations. 

Congrats to the mashup of teams that made this possible. @Navarro_Cheer @TrinityValleyCC @netflix pic.twitter.com/8YuZXpNibl

— Greg Whiteley (@gregonepotato) July 12, 2022

“It was shocking. It was devastating for everyone,” Aldama told DeGeneres, per PEOPLE. “As a parent, I was heartbroken for those affected and, you know, it was definitely one of the major challenges that we faced, just keeping ourselves in a good state of mind, mentally to get through that.” Harris was one of the few challenges Navarro had to deal with. Another big issue was dealing with fame as Season 2 shows the aftermath of Season 1 being a huge hit. 

“You know, when you come from adversity, you are grateful for opportunities that you get. These kids have worked so hard. They have overcome circumstances, so we kept saying all the time that we have an attitude of gratitude,” Aldama added. “We were grateful for where we were at.”  

With Season 2 of Cheer also focusing on Trinity Valley College, new characters were introduced, including coach Vontae Johnson who enjoyed his experience on the show. “I thought it was a great experience,” Johnson told PopCulture in January. “Greg [Whiteley] and the crew did a good job capturing Trinity Valley throughout our process to be able to get to our competition in Daytona.” Cheer, which has already won three Emmy Awards, has not been officially renewed for Season 3 as of this writing.