Flavor Flav Is Really Throwing His Own Parade for U.S. Women’s Olympians

The gold medal-hauling women of the 2026 Winter Olympics are finally getting their flowers, thanks to national treasure Flavor Flav, champion of women’s sports advocacy. Thanks, Mr. Flav!

In case you forgot, the U.S. Women’s athletes dominated at this year’s Winter Olympics—we can thank them for 21 of the 33 medals awarded to the U.S. (and 8 of the 12 U.S. gold medals). They deserve the nation’s praises, but get a load of this: some people (like the president) have a problem celebrating women. After the U.S. women’s hockey team defeated Canada to win the gold, Trump joked that he would be forced to invite them to his State of the Union address, as he did with the men’s team, or else he “probably would be impeached.” The women’s team declined the invite anyway, and after that, Flav got an idea…

“If the USA Women’s Hockey team wants a real celebration and invite…I’ll host them in Las Vegas,” he tweeted in February.” Well, it’s happening, people. Flav and the Olympians are getting their parade this Saturday, plus one better: an entire SHE Weekend described by Flav as a “public parade, celebration, and concert honoring the women who give their all to their sports and their country.”

“What started as a social media post is now a movement,” the rapper announced on Instagram, “What started as an earnest invitation to celebrate and host female athletes has turned into something bigger and better than anything I imagined.” The celebratory weekend in Las Vegas will feature the parade, a performance from Public Enemy (naturally), panels, keynotes, sweepstakes, and more festivities to honor the Olympians— like figure skaters Alyssa Liu and Amber Glenn and hockey team captain Hilary Knight—as well as athletes from the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. It’s free to attend, just “bring your signs, wear your favorite athlete’s jerseys, and CHEER LOUD & PROUD,” per Flav’s request. After the parade, the athletes (and also Flav?) will be presented with the keys to the Strip, which already sounds a million times more fun than Trump’s 2-hour speech.

In 2024, ahead of the Paris Olympics, Flav became an official sponsor of the U.S. Women’s Water Polo team after learning that the athletes were balancing multiple jobs to finance their Olympic dreams. “Women’s sports are just as important as men’s sports,” he repeated on a recent episode of Abby Wambach’s podcast. “These girls are out here busting their ass to make the United States look good, so why not give them some support?” OK Flav! Maybe you do deserve to share the keys to the Strip!

Even though I still think the name “SHE Weekend” could have been workshopped a little longer, I wish the athletes and Flavor Flav a joyous time in Vegas nonetheless. 

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