The rapper Flavor Flav will host a Las Vegas event in July to honour the US women’s ice hockey team’s gold medal at the Milano Cortina Olympics and celebrate other female Olympian and Paralympian achievement.
The Hall of Fame rapper announced on X on Thursday that he will host a She Got Game weekend event from 16-19 July in partnership with MGM Resorts to honor the women’s hockey team as well as other female athletes.
The 66-year-old artist is a longtime supporter of women’s sports and he also launched a GoFundMe campaign to back US women’s Olympic medallists.
“Many of y’all asked how you can support and donate to our female athletes and the celebrations. So I created a Go Fund Me. I’m hopeful this can have an impact beyond the weekend and help those that represent the best of the US,” he wrote on X.
Reuters sought comment from USA Hockey regarding whether the full 23-strong squad would be attending the event. However, they did not immediately reply.
Flav, a founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group Public Enemy, offered the squad a Las Vegas trip for “a real celebration” with dinners and shows, sharing a formal email he said was sent to the players.
American rapper Flavor Flav at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina this month. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
The invitation came shortly after the women’s team declined to attend Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. USA Hockey cited logistics and travel issues in politely declining the invitation for the women to join the men’s gold medal-winning team at the address.
The US president’s invitation came late on Sunday during a locker-room call congratulating the men’s team on their 2-1 overtime victory over Canada. The women’s team beat Canada by the same score and in overtime three days earlier.
“We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump told the men’s team, who were with Kash Patel, the FBI director, later joking he would “probably be impeached” if he did not extend the invitation.
A reference to Trump’s remarks appeared in the message shared by Flav, who served as official hype man for the US bobsleigh and skeleton teams at the Milano Cortina Games and previously supported the women’s water polo team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.