How ‘girl dad’ Flavor Flav became hype man for the US women’s water polo team

TThe U.S. women’s water polo team will launch their bid for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal on Saturday with an unlikely benefactor in their corner. Flavor Flav, the 65-year-old founder of Public Enemy, has stolen the show in his role as the team’s official hype man.

“This is quite an experience for me right now, you know, because the only time I’ve ever seen the Olympics was on TV,” said Flav, who hugged and high-fived everyone at the Team USA house in the historic Palais Brongniart on Thursday. “You know what I mean? But I always wanted to experience what it was like to be there.”

The unlikely partnership was formed in May when team captain Maggie Steffens post a call on Instagram to ask for financial help. That’s when Flav – whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr – offered to support the team and use his fame to draw attention to one of the most successful and overlooked teams on the Olympic stage.

“As a daughter father and supporter of all women’s sports – I’m going to personally sponsor you, my daughter, whatever you need. And I’m going to sponsor the entire team,” Flav wrote back.

A few weeks later, Flav signed a five-year sponsorship agreement with the U.S. women’s and men’s teams, which aims to “increase the visibility and excitement around water polo in the United States.” In addition to an undisclosed financial contribution, Flav will make multiple appearances at USA Water Polo events to help bring attention to a sport that has struggled to capture the attention of the United States, even during the Olympics.

“I’ve really been encouraged by other women in sports to speak up, which can be a little scary sometimes,” Steffens said. “And I’ve been calling on people to get to know my teammates and challenging them and empowering them to follow some of the more niche sports in this Olympics, particularly women’s sports.

“And Flavor Flav saw that and there was something that piqued his interest… He really opened the door for people to learn more about our team and different communities, different people who had never heard of water polo before.”

Success has never been a problem for the U.S. women’s team. Three years ago in Tokyo, they became the third country to win three consecutive Olympic water polo titles. The Americans are perhaps the most dominant team in world sport today and are tipped to win four in a row in Paris, where they open against Greece on Saturday.

Flav’s support for the American team went beyond financially. When Steffens and co visited Paris for a test event in May, at the same time that Taylor Swift brought her Eras Tour to La Défense Arena, Flav worked through industry backchannels to secure tickets for the entire team.

Since landing in Paris, Flav has excelled in his role. He’s been all over the city, easily recognizable in a Team USA jersey, swim cap and custom USA Water Polo clock around his neck (waterproof, of course), and even gave a half-hour press conference in the main press center on Friday morning.

“This is an honor, and this is a pleasure and a perfect measure – and I’m going to keep this memory as a perfect treasure,” he said.

Last month Flav jumped into the pool with the women’s team for a video that has been viewed millions of times on Instagram and TikTok, in which he even scored a goal against star goalie Ashleigh Johnson. “I’ve been in the pool recently and I’ve learned how hard water polo is,” he said. “I tell everyone I was in the water for seven minutes, I was kicking for seven minutes, and man, that was the hardest seven minutes of my life! But the girls said I did good.”

To call it an unlikely marriage would be an understatement. When he wasn’t a sharp polemic about 911 is a joke or the tearing down of America’s sacred cows Fight the powerFlav has often been in conflict with the law. The rapper spent nine weeks in jail in 2002 for multiple driving and probation offenses and he was arrested in 2011 regarding several outstanding traffic violations. There have also been other charges involving domestic violence and drug possession.

It’s not the obvious combination for an Olympic partnership, where multinationals like Coca-Cola and Intel usually call the shots. And yet … all shapes and sizes. Flav’s sincerity in promoting excellence in women’s sports, a healthy endeavor on full display in Paris, seems genuine.

“When these girls are not in the water, they are living an active life at home … they are working two or three jobs. It takes time to get a gold medal,” he said Friday. “Everybody wants to feel like they have their back, that someone has their back. When they feel that, they feel more powerful, they feel better. It gives them a lot more energy to go out there and get that fourth gold medal.”