US women’s hockey team to celebrate Olympic gold medal at Flavor Flav-hosted event this summer in Las Vegas – Chicago Tribune

The United States women’s hockey team is meeting Flavor Flav this summer in Las Vegas to celebrate their gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The rapper reposted a note on his X account for sports media brand The GIST on Thursday, announcing that he would be hosting a “She Got Game” weekend 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 photo of American women’s hockey players celebrating in a circle.

A publicist for Flavor Flav confirmed the event without providing further details.

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The 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 discussions were private.

The person added that while the team is excited to attend, it is unclear if all 23 players will be in attendance due to potential scheduling conflicts.

The team has not yet determined whether it will travel to the White House after USA Hockey cited logistical and travel issues in declining President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s team at the State of the Union on Tuesday.

Flavor Flav is a long-time supporter of women’s sports and has participated in various Olympic competitions this month. He issued his invitation Monday, shortly after the women declined the trip to Washington.

“If the United States women’s hockey team wants a real party and invites, I will welcome them to Las Vegas. Have good dinners, shows and good times,” he wrote. “I’m sure I can find a hotel and an airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real, for real.”

The event moved quickly thereafter. Brands flooded the comments expressing interest: “Let’s talk about it,” said one response from Alaska Airlines.

GIST, which prides itself on providing equal coverage of men’s and women’s sports and reaches approximately 1 million newsletter subscribers, will serve as the official media and content partner for the weekend, said co-founder Jacie deHoop. The company contacted the rapper after seeing his message.

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According to deHoop, the celebration arose as a direct response to Trump’s joke during a phone call to the victorious men’s team that he should also invite the women to the White House or face impeachment.

“It was really disheartening to see,” deHoop said. “I think there was definitely a perception that the women’s team was an afterthought, and I think women’s sport has too often been in this position where women have to play second fiddle and are treated as sort of second-class citizens.”

The women’s team was originally scheduled to fly commercially to New York on Monday, but was forced to fly through Atlanta due to a snowstorm in the Northeast. The timing and storm made it difficult for the women to change their plans as they returned to their Women’s Professional Hockey League and college teams.

The PWHL schedule resumed Thursday with Montreal playing in New York after a month-long Olympic break, while college players open their conference playoffs this weekend.