Flavor Flav hits Paris to boost his new passion: women's water polo
Flavor Flav meets with FLOTUS Jill Biden during US women’s water polo match
Flavor Flav welcomes First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to the Women’s Water Polo match at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The Public Enemy hip-hop pioneer, Flavor Flav and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden crossed paths at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, (July 27).
The Flav-FLOTUS summit came about in a very 2024 way: via Instagram comment. In May, Maggie Steffens, captain of the U.S. women’s water polo team, published a lengthy, heartfelt post about the honor of representing Team USA, her love for her team and the struggles of competing from a financial perspective.
“Many of my teammates aren’t just badass champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, physicians assistants, and more,” she wrote. “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.”
According to a White House Pool report, the meeting between Flav and FLOTUS was arranged. Biden expressed her appreciation for Flav's involvement in women's sports.
See Flav and the First Lady, he posted video of their meeting on social media.
“I’m so ready, man. ... I’m so hype right now about this sport," said Flav, wearing a custom USA Water Polo clock around his neck. “I wish I was playing it. I’m hyping myself up right now to ask them to let me on the team.”
The road to Flav's Olympic debut began when Steffens posted on Instagram about her experiences with the U.S. women's program, which has won an unprecedented three straight gold medals going into Paris.
While paying tribute to her teammates and expressing her love for her grueling sport, Steffens also highlighted the constant financial struggle for most Olympic athletes. Flav’s manager brought the issue to his attention, and he promised his assistance in a comment on Steffens' post.
“As a girl dad and supporter of all women’s sports - imma personally sponsor you my girl,,, whatever you need. And imma sponsor the whole team,” Flav wrote.
That exchange turned into a unique sponsorship deal between Flav — whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr. — and USA Water Polo. Flav made an undisclosed financial contribution to the women's program as part of the five-year agreement, and he also agreed to collaborate on social media to help bring attention to the small sport.
Flav, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Public Enemy in 2013, prepped for his Paris experience by attending two women's games, even joining the TV broadcast.
He also jumped into the pool with the women's team earlier this month during a training session.
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