Take Notice of Who Celebrates Women

Our golden hockey girls may end up with a jubilee far greater than eating fast-food burgers and sharing their medals with a tempestuous tyrant, thanks to rap legend Flavor Flav.

By Shalise Manza Young

In the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, American women showed up and showed out. And, as we begin Women’s History Month, it is important to recognize the hurdles they had to — and have to — jump, and notice who’s celebrating with them.

They gave us some of the most memorable moments of both Games, from gymnastics goddess Simone Biles winning three more gold medals and dancing discus queen Valarie Allman winning her second straight gold in France to Alysa Liu’s exuberant golden freeskate and bobsled mama Elana Meyers Taylor sliding to her first gold with her two sons watching in Italy.

The U.S. Women’s Hockey Team (US Hockey)

In Milan, the United States finished second in the medal table, with 33 to Norway’s 41, including 12 golds. Of that dozen, half were won by women alone, and two more came with women on mixed teams.

In Paris, American women were so dominant they won 26 gold medals alone, more than any other country save China.

The mighty U.S. women’s hockey team was crowned Olympic champions last month, too, though a certain tangerine-tinted twit again showed his disdain for women in a supposedly celebratory call with the men’s hockey team.

Despite myself, I do give the men’s players a bit of grace for laughing at Donald Trump’s crude “joke” about the horrible necessity of inviting the women to the White House. Even for those who do not support Trump, there is an expectation of how you behave toward the president, and nervous laughter is a thing.

But the women know what’s up. They publicly declined the invitation. Some of the men, though, were used as political pawns at the State of the Union address last week, abetting Trump’s whitewashing of reality.

(Sometimes pointing out the rank hypocrisy of the MAGA set feels redundant, but: It’s incredible how they called for Colin Kaepernick’s head when the former NFL quarterback kneeled during the national anthem to protest Black people being extrajudiciously killed in the streets by agents of the state yet think it’s totes amaze that the director of the FBI was chugging beer in the U.S. men’s locker room like a dorky baby brother happy to be invited to the party.)

And the golden hockey girls may end up with a jubilee far greater than having to eat fast-food burgers and share their medals with a tempestuous tyrant, thanks to rap legend Flavor Flav.

Known to Gen X as a member of Public Enemy and to Millennials for his “Flavor of Love” reality dating show, Flav (real name: William Drayton Jr.) has become something of a Patron Saint of Women’s Sports.

Before the Paris Olympics, he signed a deal to endorse the men’s and women’s water polo teams, and he became the “hype man” for the über-successful women’s side.

Since then, he’s become an outspoken fan of female athletes. When he heard of Trump’s behavior toward the women’s hockey team, he extended an invitation for the team to come to Las Vegas, where he’d make sure they were properly feted.

Then he decided to go “bigger and better,” as he posted on social media, inviting all American female Olympians and Paralympians to Vegas for a “She Got Game” weekend in July.

Numerous brands and artists have offered to get in on the fun with concerts, show tickets, other outings in the city, cosmetics, flights, and hotel rooms.

“I’m your official hype man, just remember that. And I got you guys covered,” Flav announced. “We’ve got to build up everybody, and that’s what this is all about. … Support women’s sports.”

It’s wild though unsurprising that, even as the landmark Title IX bill celebrates its 54th anniversary this summer, we’re still seeing men downplay the abilities and achievements of women in sports, as though they aren’t just as committed, talented and worthy as their male counterparts.

Last month, a post on r/trackandfield questioned if a team of four male, non-sprinter professional athletes — NFL receiver Xavier Worthy, French soccer player Kylian Mbappe, MLB shortstop Elly De La Cruz, and NBA guard De’Aaron Fox — could beat four of the five fastest women in history — Florence Griffith Joyner, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Carmelita Jeter — in a 4x100 meter relay.

It was insulting to the women to even pose the hypothetical, not just because of their speed but because handoffs in a 4x100 are critically important. Just ask the U.S. men’s 4x1 teams from 1995 to 2024.

Knocking women clearly isn’t happening everywhere, given Flav’s adoration, the sold-out crowds for the South Carolina women’s basketball team’s games, and the escalating Olympic medal counts.

It’s also not true for girls and women who don’t make it to the national and international stage: I’m more a daughter of Title IX than the granddaughter today’s athletes are, and my father was at each of my cross country races and track meets to support my teammates and me. To this day, he loves to reminisce about the 100-meter hurdles race I had in high school when my coach told me I probably wouldn’t beat his granddaughter; my dad was with me at the start line for his customary encouragement, and he was there, ready to do our “dance of joy” when I crossed the finish line victorious.

That kind of support matters. The kind of celebration America’s newest crop of female Olympians and Paralympians will experience thanks to Flavor Flav matters.

And they both matter far more than the belittling behavior of Doddering Don, who is far more familiar with cheap gold picture frames than golden moments.

Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.

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