Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has danced his last dance on the midfield logos of other teams as of Wednesday. Smith-Schuster, who has been under quite a bit of criticism the last several weeks for filming himself dancing on the midfield logos of other teams, announced on Wednesday that he will no longer do so.
“For me, honestly, I was dancing when we were undefeated, I was dancing when we lost our three games,” Smith-Schuster said. “I’m not going to change the person who I am. I think, you know, it’s getting to the point where my teammates are being asked this question, my coaches are being asked this question and I saw it more as no intention of disrespect I saw it more as intentions of my fans. I’m big on social media and the positive and doing stuff like that you get the positive and negative. So, for the betterment of myself and my teammates, I’m going to stop dancing on the logos.”
So, there you go. No more logo TikTok logo dancing for Smith-Schuster, at least not on the road.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday during his press conference that he would be talking to the young wide receiver about him dancing on the logos of opposing teams during pregame warmups. It appears that conversation has already taken place.
In Smith-Schuster’s defense, his logo dancing only became a big story once the Steelers started losing. He probably fueled the fire some last week by stating that he wasn’t going to stop doing it. Because of those comments and a defensive player from the Cincinnati Bengals saying ahead of the Monday night game that he takes issue with Smith-Schuster’s midfield pregame logo dances, the story grew yet another pair of legs to TikTok with.
Smith-Schuster made it clear on Wednesday that he’s not receiving any sort of monetary compensation from TikTok to do video his pregame logo dances and post them on his own account. What happened with Smith-Schuster is that harmless fun turned into an optics nightmare. The outside pressure that his dances created not only on him, but the rest of the team as well, required him to cease and desist his pregame TiKTok logo dancing. He made the right decision so now the non-story should no longer be a story.
In another Smith-Schuster story, the wide receiver and his foundation announced that they recently partnered with Walmart to give over 200 kids $20,000 in gift cards for the holidays. Smith-Schuster surprised kids of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania with a video message on Tuesday.
“This holiday, I wanted to share a small gift with all of you. In partnership with the Walmart Foundation, I’m excited to let each of you know that you will be receiving a $100 Walmart gift card to use on some toys and Christmas gifts this year,” said Smith-Schuster in a release. “I hope this will bring a sense joy and happiness to you and your families this holiday season!”
