Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend turns Las Vegas into Team USA victory lap
Flavor Flav brought Team USA women to Las Vegas for a parade, concerts and keys to the Strip, ESPN reported.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend put Team USA women at the center of a four-day Las Vegas celebration, with Olympians and Paralympians rolling down the Strip in double-decker buses as fans packed the route, ESPN reported.
The event began as a plan to honor the United States women's hockey team, according to ESPN, then grew into a broader salute to women athletes with help from MGM Resorts. Flav personally pushed for city approval of a parade, public concert and related events, ESPN reported.
On the opening night, athletes arrived at Toshiba Plaza on two buses before stepping onto a royal blue carpet. ESPN reported that gold, silver and bronze medals flashed under the lights as hundreds of fans cheered and the crowd pressed close to the barricades.
What is Flavor Flav's SHE Weekend?
SHE Weekend is a Las Vegas event organized with Flavor Flav to celebrate women Olympians and Paralympians from Team USA. According to ESPN, the July gathering included a parade, athlete appearances, concerts and private events designed to spotlight women in sports.
The parade stretched nearly one mile along the Las Vegas Strip, ESPN reported. Local girls' youth sports teams, community groups, members of the Las Vegas Aces and Team USA athletes all took part.
Among the athletes ESPN identified were Olympic alpine skier Breezy Johnson, freestyle mogul skier Elizabeth Lemley and Paralympic snowboarder Brenna Huckaby. Freestyle skier Kaila Kuhn called the gathering a rare chance for elite women athletes to celebrate together, saying, “This is such a movement, and we need more of it. Thank you, Flavor Flav.”
Flav, wearing his signature clock chain and a shirt reading “She livin' that trophy life,” told ESPN the event felt unreal. He said any tears would be “tears of joy” and said he was grateful to help bring the athletes to Las Vegas to celebrate their wins.
Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom also joined the festivities. ESPN reported that Segerblom gave individual keys to the Strip to dozens of athletes and proclaimed July 16 “Flavor Flav Day.”
Figure skater Amber Glenn told ESPN the weekend carried personal meaning because her parents were there to see her honored. Her father, Richard Glenn, had worked security for Flav a decade earlier, and Glenn said her family’s sacrifices helped make her Olympic career possible.
The second night moved inside The Cosmopolitan, where U.S. women's hockey captain Hilary Knight joined teammates and other Team USA athletes for a private dinner, according to ESPN. Figure skaters, hockey players, bobsledders, snowboarders, skiers and speedskaters sat together in a setting athletes said they rarely get.
Olympic snowboarder Bea Kim told ESPN the dinner felt powerful because younger athletes were sharing space with women they had long admired. Flav handed out gold clock necklaces to the athletes, while the U.S. women's hockey team gave him a jersey with “Flavor Flav” and No. 26 on the back.
The weekend also included concerts. ESPN reported that Flav promised a public concert featuring Public Enemy, while athletes at the dinner later split off for Backstreet Boys at the Sphere or Mary J. Blige.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.