Why Rapper Flavor Flav Sponsored The Women’s USA Olympic Water Polo Team — & How It’s Actually Helping Visibility For Women’s Sports
He’s passionately leading the pack for women’s sport’s viewership.
Delpixel, Tiago Pestana, Zamrznuti tonovi | Shutterstock.com Perhaps it's because we're so used to most professional athletes being gazillionaires, but when we watch the Olympics at home or online, it's easy to think that each athlete representing our country comes from the kind of jet-setting resources you'd expect an international competitor to have.
That is, however, frequently not the case, especially for female athletes, who often struggle to obtain the kind of lucrative endorsements that more high-profile male athletes often pull down. The women's USA Olympic water polo team is a perfect example of this, and when rapper Flavor Flav caught wind of it, he wasn't about to let it fly.
Flavor Flav's Olympic sponsorship of the USA women's water polo team has made him the team's official 'hype man.'
Since the 2024 Paris Olympics began on Friday, July 26, Flavor Flav has been everywhere right alongside the USA's women's water polo team, acting as a sort of unofficial hype man for the team.
It's certainly an unlikely pairing, but if anyone is suited to the job of hype man, it's Flavor Flav. He was the hype man of iconic rap group Public Enemy back in the day, after all, and is instantly recognizable for wearing a clock around his neck and shouting "yeeeeeah boyeeeeee!" Who better to rep — well, anything to be honest!
But how did Flavor Flav end up repping the U.S. women's water polo team, of all things? It all goes back to a post from the team's captain, Maggie Steffens, that highlighted a common situation among women Olympians that the rapper simply wouldn't stand for.
Flavor Flav 'couldn't believe' three-time gold medalist Maggie Steffens and her team have to work three jobs to afford the Olympics.
Maggie Steffens, the captain of the USA's Olympic women's water polo team, is a veteran Olympian, commpeting for the U.S. in women's water polo at the 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
That's impressive enough, but at each of those three games, Steffens and the USA team won a gold medal, along with two silvers and a bronze in the 2012, 2008, and 2004 Olympics. That's quite a pedigree! But as Steffens shared in an Instagram post, it has not translated to the glory many other Olympians enjoy.
"Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!)," Steffens wrote in her post, "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."
If a three-time gold medalist having to work three jobs to afford the Olympics seems absurd to you, you're not alone. In his own Instagram post, Flavor Flav said he "couldn't believe" that this was the reality.
"I cant believe an Olympic Team who has won THREE GOLD MEDALS in a row is struggling to find support," the rapper wrote on Instagram. "Well, my dears,,, y’all got MINE!!" He then pledged to "use all my relationships and resources" to help the team along, and he has made good on that promise.
Flavor Flav says he hopes his sponsorship of the USA Women's Olympic water polo team will lead to greater visibility for women in sports.
His hype man skills and money are all-important; there's no doubt about that. But Flavor Flav's support isn't mere generosity — it's mission-driven. "As a girl dad and supporter of all women's sports," he told Steffens in an Instagram comment, "I'm going to sponsor the whole team."
In comments at a press conference in Paris, Flavor Flav elaborated on why he thinks his "girl dad" support is so important and what he hopes it will accomplish.
"Everybody wants to feel like they got they back covered," he told the assembled press. "And when they feel that, it makes them feel more powerful." He told NBC that his goal is to start a trend of supporting struggling Olympic athletes like the women's water polo team, who often get overlooked when it comes to sponsorships.
"What I’m doing right now — I think it’s huge, and nobody else is doing it or has done it,” he said. I’m hoping that this will be a trend that a lot of people will follow because I think it’s a really good thing. Come and step up and sponsor some of these teams."
The water polo Olympians say it's working. Team member Ashleigh Johnson, a Black woman, said in a press conference that Flavor Fav's support has had an unprecedented impact.
"I see people asking questions about water polo, and people of color wanting to start playing," she said, "and that's a different community than I've seen talk about our sport, in the way they were talking about it, than I have this whole time I've been on this team."
It's a perfect example of how celebrities and those with resources and platforms can leverage their resources to amplify and lift up those who are all too often left by the wayside. Here's hoping plenty more follow in Flavor Flav's footsteps and say "yeah boyeee" to giving diverse athletes the support they need to land at the finish line.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.