The United States women’s hockey team has a date with Flavor Flav in Las Vegas in July to celebrate winning the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The rapper reposted a note on his X account on Thursday from sports media brand The GIST, announcing he’s hosting a “She Got Game” weekend event from July 16-19 in partnership with the outlet and MGM Resorts. The post said the event was being held to honor the women’s hockey team and other female athletes, with details to follow. It featured a picture of the U.S. women’s hockey players celebrating in a circle.
A publicist for Flavor Flav confirmed the event without providing further details.
The women’s players accepted the invitation without input from USA Hockey, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
The person added that while the team is excited to attend, it’s unclear if the entire 23-player roster will be on hand because of potential scheduling conflicts.
The team has yet to determine whether it will visit the White House after USA Hockey cited logistics and travel issues in declining President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the U.S. men’s gold medal-winning team at the State of the Union on Tuesday.
Flavor Flav is a longtime supporter of women’s sports and attended various Olympic competitions this month. He posted his invitation on Monday, shortly after the women turned down the trip to Washington.
“If the USA Women’s Hockey team wants a real celebration and invite ,,, I’ll host them in Las Vegas. Do some nice dinners and shows and good times,” he wrote. “I’m sure I can get a hotel and airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real for real.”
The event came together quickly after that. Brands swarmed the comments expressing interest: “Let’s talk,” said a reply from Alaska Airlines.
The GIST, which prides itself on providing equal coverage to men’s and women’s sports and reaches roughly 1 million newsletter subscribers, will serve as the official media and content partner for the weekend, co-founder Jacie deHoop said. The company had reached out to the rapper after seeing his post.
According to deHoop, the celebration was born as a direct response to Trump’s joke on a phone call to the victorious men’s team that he would also have to invite the women to the White House or face impeachment.
“It was really disheartening to see,” deHoop said. “I think it definitely came across as that the women’s team is an afterthought, and I think women’s sports has been in this position too many times where the women have to play second fiddle and are being treated as kind of second-class citizens.”
The women’s team was originally scheduled to fly commercially to New York on Monday, but was forced to reroute through Atlanta because of a snowstorm in the Northeast. The timing and storm made it difficult for the women to change plans as they returned to their Professional Women’s Hockey League and college teams.
The PWHL schedule resumed on Thursday with Montreal playing at New York following a monthlong Olympic break, while college players open their conference playoffs this weekend.
Trump said Tuesday night that plans were in the works to have the women’s team visit the White House, though it’s unclear when that could happen, USA Hockey said. The earliest the team could travel to Washington would be in late spring after the conclusion of the PWHL season.
The president initially invited the women late Sunday, when he called to congratulate the men for their 2-1 overtime win over Canada. The women’s team was still in Milan, three days after also beating Canada 2-1 in overtime.
“We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said to the men’s team.
U.S. women’s captain Hilary Knight on Wednesday referred to the comment as “distasteful and unfortunate.”
“I think just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point and really shines light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats,” she said.
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AP Business Writer Claire Savage in Chicago contributed to this report.
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