Summary
- Flavor Flav sponsoring the US Women's Water Polo Team at the 2024 Olympics caught attention and highlighted the financial struggles faced by female Olympians.
- Flavor Flav stepped in to support the US Women's Polo Team after learning many athletes worked multiple jobs to afford the chance, despite winning gold medals.
- The legendary rapper found inspiration in the Olympic athletes' perseverance and sponsored the team the same day a call for help went out.
Hip-hop legend and reality TV star Flavor Flav's support of the US Women's Water Polo Team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris has captured the internet's attention, and the story behind it is pretty cool.
On July 28, a Facebook page shared a post with photos of Flavor Flav and First Lady Jill Biden at the Olympics in Paris:
Alongside two images, the post's text read:
"Fun Fact: Flavor Flav has been personally sponsoring the US Women's Water Polo Team after finding out members of the team were quietly working multiple jobs to pay for training and competing even after winning 3 Olympic gold medals. He’s calling other celebrities to do the same with other teams."
According to the post, Flavor Flav stepped in after learning that Olympic athletes still lacked funds after qualifying to compete — and yes, you can believe the hype this time.
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Flavor Flav And The US Women's Polo Team, Explained
In the Facebook post embedded above, the two attached pictures depicted Flavor Flav (wearing a USA "clock" necklace) and Jill Biden, as well as Flavor Flav in the water with Olympic swimmers.
Wait, Why Does Flavor Flav Wear A Clock Necklace?
Good question: Flavor Flav's clock necklace is truly iconic — as a matter of fact, the Smithsonian's National Museum Of African American History And Culture acquired one of Flav's clocks in the mid-1980s.
In 2022, Flav himself said: "The reason why I wear this clock is because, you know, time is the most important element, and when we stop, time keeps going."
However, in 2023, he gave a slightly different reason for wearing his iconic clock necklace: "... they dared me to wear that clock on stage ... but during the show.
"So when we went to open up for the Beastie Boys in Passaic, New Jersey, 1986, I wore the clock ... and then the next day on the front page of Newsday, New York Times, New York Post, the look of the clock was dope.”
In the Facebook post, the page asserted that Flavor Flav found out that "members of the team were quietly working multiple jobs ... even after winning [three] medals."
On May 4, US Women's Water Polo team captain Maggie Steffens shared an Instagram post about the financial burdens faced by Olympic athletes:
In the post, Maggie was candid about how unaffordable the Olympics could be, and noted that qualification wasn't enough to get to Paris.
She also touched on issues surrounding the pay gap in women's athletics – a topic that was oft-discussed during Brittany Griner's detention in Russia – and said in part:
"[Financial support means everything to us & impacts our sport more than most. You all are truly the team behind the team and we feel it and we need it!
"Many of my teammates aren’t just badass champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, physicians assistants, and more.
"Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age.
"Especially female sports and female athletes."
Apparently, that was all Flavor Flav needed to hear.
On May 16, NBC's Olympics site published "Flavor Flav 'hyped' to sponsor U.S. women’s water polo team for Paris Olympics: 'This is bigger than me,'" touching on his standing in hip-hop history, as well as his reality TV stardom:
"Flavor Flav has done it all.
"As a rapper and member of the iconic rap group Public Enemy, he claimed the most prestigious award in music when he won a Grammy in 2020. When he wasn't on the mic hyping up the stage, he also had a TV career, serving as a host for many of his dating reality TV shows."
NBC quoted Flav, who was clearly "all in" in terms of support, less than two weeks after Maggie's call for support appeared on Instagram:
"I never in my life, honestly, never thought of me sponsoring a United States Olympic team.
"For me doing this, I ain’t gonna lie, to me this is one of the biggest things that I feel that I could have ever done in life, outside of the other accomplishments that I’ve made to music.
"By sponsoring a water polo team and helping these girls out, this is bigger than me winning a Grammy."
Flav actually pledged his support on the same day Maggie mentioned the funding issue, tweeting on May 4 that he planned to support the US Women's Water Polo team.
Flavor Flav told NBC that part of the reason he supported the team was that he has daughters, and he knows "what it feels like to be competitive but yet not recognized for what you do."
