Flavor Flav Is Throwing a Las Vegas Weekend to Honor Female Olympians After White House Snub
Rapper Flavor Flav is partnering with MGM Resorts International and women-led sports media company The Gist to host “She Got Game,” a four-day celebration in Las Vegas from July 16–19 honoring U.S. women’s Olympic and Paralympic medalists.
What’s Happening
Flav announced the event Thursday on X. The celebration was conceived to honor the U.S. women’s ice hockey team’s gold medal at the Milano Cortina Olympics but will extend beyond hockey to welcome other female Olympians and Paralympians.
“I want to go bigger and better. I want to bring all United States female Olympians and Paralympians, the ones that won medals,” Flav said in a Feb. 24 Instagram video.
MGM Resorts confirmed its participation in a Feb. 26 statement to USA Today: “Planning is underway and details will be shared soon as we get ready to celebrate our incredible USA athletes in a way only MGM Resorts knows how.”
What Sparked the Event
The idea has a specific origin. In an interview with USA Today, Flav said the event was sparked after President Donald Trump said he would “probably be impeached” if he did not invite the women’s team to the State of the Union address along with the men.
Trump made the comment during a locker-room call congratulating the men’s team on their 2-1 overtime victory over Canada. During the call, Trump said: “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.”
The women’s team subsequently declined to attend Trump’s State of the Union address. USA Hockey cited logistics and travel issues in declining the invitation for the women to join the men’s gold medal-winning team.
Flav was blunt about his reaction: “The invitation that was given to the women, it was some type of mediocre invitation,” he said. “So, I’m like, ‘hey, listen, it’s okay. I’ll give you guys a party. Don’t even worry about it.’”
He shared what he described as a formal email invitation offering the women’s team a Las Vegas trip for “a real celebration” with dinners and shows.
How Athletes Responded
Hilary Knight, a forward on the gold medal-winning women’s team, said in a Feb. 25 interview on ESPN that the president’s comments were “a distasteful joke” that is “overshadowing a lot of the success” of the women in Italy.
Melissa Katz, a representative for USA Hockey, said in a statement to USA Today that the team is “honored and grateful for the invitations and support they’ve received” and that they will “engage with the opportunities as their schedules permit.”
Flav framed the event as inclusive. “This is really for all athletes that’s out there, busting their butt and doing a good job to make United States look good. I want (the men) to be here, I want them to come out so they can help support their fellow women athletes,” he said in the USA Today interview.
What to Expect
Details are still being finalized, but the weekend will run four days, July 16 through July 19. The MGM Resorts partnership suggests the event will take place across that company’s Las Vegas properties, though specific venues have not been announced.
“I’m going to give them a parade, they’re definitely going to have a parade. And then also, I’m going to see what type of entertainment that I can put together,” Flav said.
“It looks historical, it looks fun and it looks like whoever comes out to this event is going to have a damn good time,” he added.
Flav has built a track record in Olympic sports advocacy. He previously served as the official hypeman for Team USA Bobsled and Skeleton in Italy and for U.S. water polo teams in Paris during the 2024 Summer Games.
The partnership structure pairs his celebrity advocacy with The Gist, a women-led sports media company, and MGM Resorts International, one of the largest hospitality companies operating on the Las Vegas Strip.
BOTTOM LINE: With months of lead time before the July 16–19 event in Las Vegas, the question worth tracking is whether “She Got Game” becomes a one-time celebration or a blueprint for a recurring platform honoring female athletes.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
