{"id":623688,"date":"2026-07-16T05:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/623688\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T05:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T05:00:20","slug":"the-u-s-womens-hockey-team-needed-an-espys-fairy-godmother-enter-flavor-flav","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/623688\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. women’s hockey team needed an ESPYs fairy godmother. Enter Flavor Flav."},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a few weeks ago, only a handful of members of the U.S. women’s hockey team were expected to attend the ESPYs<\/a>, the annual awards show honoring the year’s biggest athletes, teams and moments in sports.<\/p>\n

By Wednesday afternoon, many more of the reigning Olympic gold medalists were swapping jerseys for gowns inside a midtown Manhattan penthouse. Champagne was flowing. Hair and makeup artists buzzed around the room. Defenseman Mariah Keopple, who also works as a stylist, helped teammates put the finishing touches on their looks before they headed to the awards show, airing live Wednesday night from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t exactly the typical pregame routine for one of the world’s best hockey teams. And none of it would have happened without an unlikely benefactor: Flavor Flav.<\/p>\n

The Public Enemy legend learned last week from U.S. captain Hilary Knight that only a handful of players had been invited to the ESPYs, where Team USA is nominated for Best Team following its dramatic gold-medal victory at the 2026 Winter Olympics. For Flavor Flav, the solution was simple: “I got you.”<\/p>\n

That promise quickly snowballed.<\/p>\n

What began as an offer to help secure tickets soon turned into a full-scale effort to make sure the team could celebrate together. (The ESPYs offer all teams the same number of invites for each squad, regardless of how many players there are.) Flav rallied friends and partners. Paris Hilton gifted the team with Hilton Honors points for hotel stays. Southwest Airlines flew players to New York free of charge. The musician and his team arranged hair and makeup with Glamsquad, while food and drinks transformed the penthouse into a celebration worthy of Olympic champions. They also secured perhaps the most important thing of all: access to the show.<\/p>\n

“We were able to put our hands on some tickets for the girls and make it happen for them,” Flav tells Yahoo. “I’m just grateful to be in this position to do these things for the girls.”<\/p>\n

Getting the team to the ESPYs wasn’t just about prizes, Flav says. It was about making sure Olympic champions felt celebrated. This is simply the latest chapter in what has become one of the most unexpected partnerships in sports.<\/p>\n

This weekend, Flav will host the inaugural SHE Weekend<\/a> in Las Vegas, a four-day celebration of women athletes featuring concerts, a parade down the Las Vegas Strip and events honoring Olympians.<\/p>\n

The idea was born<\/a>, in part, after Flav publicly came to the defense of the U.S. women’s hockey team amid controversy over the men’s team receiving a White House invitation after the 2026 Winter Olympics, while the women did not receive the same recognition. Women’s hockey players are expected to attend SHE Weekend, and Flav hopes to make the event an annual tradition.<\/p>\n

For him, the ESPYs and SHE Weekend are part of the same mission: making sure women athletes don’t just compete on the world’s biggest stages \u2014 they’re celebrated long after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

Flav’s journey as one of women’s sports’ biggest celebrity champions began after reading an open letter from U.S. Olympic water polo captain Maggie Steffens, who wrote candidly<\/a> in 2024 about the financial realities many elite athletes face while balancing Olympic training with everyday jobs.<\/p>\n

The words stopped him in his tracks.<\/p>\n

“I read the letter and I said, ‘You know what? Instead of me sponsoring the girl, I’ll sponsor the whole team,'” he says. “That’s how I got into sponsoring.”<\/p>\n

Flav threw his support behind the entire U.S. water polo program, eventually sponsoring both the women’s and men’s teams. Along the way, he also became a familiar face around the WNBA, embracing a role few would have predicted for the hip-hop icon.<\/p>\n

That decision eventually led him to Team USA hockey, where he found another group of elite women athletes whose accomplishments deserved a bigger spotlight.<\/p>\n

His motivation, he says, has never changed.<\/p>\n

“Women’s sports are just as important as men’s sports,” Flav says. “Women are playing their sports just as good as the men are.”<\/p>\n

As the father of daughters, he says he understands how meaningful recognition can be.<\/p>\n

“I know what it feels like when you want the recognition because you did something good and you don’t get that recognition,” he says. “I know what my daughters look like when they don’t get that. It’s not an encouraging feeling.”<\/p>\n

That’s why, he says, supporting women athletes has become so personal.<\/p>\n

“I’m so glad to be able to step up and help sponsor these teams,” he says, “because it lets them feel like somebody’s got their back.”<\/p>\n

Flav says his most important role isn’t sponsor, though. “I’m a hype man.”<\/p>\n

For decades, that title meant hyping crowds from stages around the world. Today, he’s using that same energy to champion women athletes \u2014 not just when they’re competing for gold, but long after the medals have been handed out. And if another women’s team called tomorrow asking for help?<\/p>\n

Flav doesn’t hesitate.<\/p>\n

“Yes, definitely,” he says. “That’s my job.”<\/p>\n