cheer la'darius season 2 netflix

‘Cheer’ Fans Reckon La’Darius Deserved Better

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The new season of Cheer is a tumultuous ride from start to finish.

The nine-episode follow-up to the phenomenon that was Season 1 is a significant change of pace for the show. It’s still about cheerleading, but it dives deeper into the relationships and struggles of the team members, while tackling how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the sport.

Season 2 introduced some new faces: rookie performers joined veterans at Navarro, and rival team Trinity Valley Community College were not here to mess around. Some old faces left the show, namely Jerry Harris after he was charged with the production of child pornography. Other cheerleaders and fan faves Lexi Brumback and Morgan Simianer exited the team after graduating.

But the most shocking departure came from La’Darius Marshall, a Navarro cheerleader loved by fans for his brutal honesty, scene-stealing performances and sassy attitude.

La’Darius was close to coach Monica Aldama throughout Season 1 and the start of the next season, but their relationship became fractured after she took time off from coaching to appear on Dancing with the Stars. La’Darius’ former team mate Kailee Peppers filled in for Monica while she was away, which caused added tension as he didn’t consider her coaching style up to Monica’s high standards. Meanwhile, La’Darius claimed that he tried to phone Monica regularly while she was filming in LA but his calls were left unanswered.

After Monica returned to Navarro, La’Darius left the team — a devastating blow for a squad that had already lost a lot of its talent between its 2020 and 2021 seasons.

La’Darius claimed in the series that when Monica returned from LA, he warned her that the assistant coaches weren’t up to scratch but she did not listen to him. “When she came back from Dancing With the Stars, it was almost like she forgot where she came from,” he said.

Some of the Navarro cheerleaders saw his departure differently, saying that La’Darius left after getting into an argument with assistant coach Kailee over a dog which he claimed she had tried to steal from him. “He basically wanted to, like, get Kailee fired,” Gabi Butler alleged.

From here, things got messy. On Instagram, La’Darius called out Navarro and Monica for “physical and mental abuse.” He also went on rants about Monica on Instagram Live about her coaching techniques, religion and recent fame. “It’s her turn to be accountable,” he said in Cheer. La’Darius even alleged that Monica encouraged senior cheerleaders to sleep with underage recruits.

La’Darius’ accusations caught Monica by surprise.”I’ve been really hurt over this because I’ve gone above and beyond for this kid,” she said in Cheer. “I’ve done more for him than probably anyone at this program that’s ever come through because I was determined the boy was going to graduate. He came to my family’s house for Thanksgiving when he had nowhere to go. I paid his dorm deposit. I’ve literally done everything in the world for this kid. Never raised my voice at him. Yet you’re going to slander my name? I don’t get it. I take it very personally.”

The Navarro team have sided with Monica, with even La’Darius’ former friends seemingly turning on him. “That was my ride or die, strong emphasis on was,” TT Barker said in the Netflix series.

Some fans have seen things differently, tweeting that La’Darius was only acting out of being hurt that Monica had left the team for a TV gig — triggering deep-seeded abandonment issues.

Cheer fans have also voiced their opposition to how the team reacted to Jerry’s child pornography charges compared to La’Darius speaking out about Navarro on social media. While the Jerry news provoked a teary and solemn response, the cheerleaders interviewed in the docuseries didn’t show much empathy for their former team mate, La’Darius.

As for whether we will see La’Darius again if Cheer comes back from another season… don’t count on it! The former Navarro cheerleader did not mince his words when addressing a fan’s tweet about Season 3, replying “I won’t be back!”

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Season 1 and 2 of Cheer can be streamed on Netflix.