Olympian Veronica Fraley Throws Shade At Vandy Football; Flavor Flav & Alexis Ohanian Jump In To Help Her
Flavor Flav continues to be the unexpected hero of the 2024 Paris Olympics. This time, he teamed up with Alexis Ohanian to help track and field star Veronica Fraley pay her bills.
Unlike many of her collegiate football and basketball counterparts, Fraley is not raking in millions in NIL deals. So on Thursday, the reigning NCAA women's discus champion took to social media to express frustration over her inability to make this month's rent — while also throwing some shade at Vanderbilt's football team.
"I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent," Fraley wrote on X. "my school only sent about 75% of my rent while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything) enough to buy new cars and houses."
Dang, it's barely August and Vandy is already catching strays.
Anyway, rapper Flavor Flav saw the tweet and immediately jumped to the rescue.
"I gotchu… DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry bout it TOMORROW," Flav replied. "and imma be rooting for ya tomorrow LETZ GO!!!"
Flavor Flav has become known as the official hype man for U.S. women's water polo during this year's Summer Games. He sponsored the entire team after captain Maggie Steffens shared an Instagram post mentioning that many Olympians must work multiple jobs to support their athletic careers. The rapper and "girl dad" has also shown his support at other TEAM USA events, including the bronze medal match in women's rugby.
Flav said through a representative that he is "happy to help out those who are representing the best of us. This is exactly why I’m in Paris and the awareness I've been trying to bring to these athletes' needs."
Flavor Flav & Alexis Ohanian To The Rescue
But Flav isn't the only celebrity propping up women's sports in Paris. Fraley's tweet also caught the attention of Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and tennis superstar Serena William's husband. So, after Flavor Flav took care of Fraley's rent for the month, Ohanian stepped in and paid it for the rest of the year.
"THANK YOU & @FlavorFlav SO MUCH," Fraley posted, with crying emojis. "this makes every difference in the WORLD & I hope to represent team USA well this week."
Fraley also clarified that she didn't mean to project her financial frustrations on Vanderbilt University. Rather, the problem is an NIL system that rewards "popularity over performance."
"Thanks for the supporting messages, but I want to clarify my irritation isn’t with the school itself, mainly the rules that bar me from making the amount I’m WORTH as a collegiate athlete such as NIL which favors popularity over performance. that’s all I’m sayin," Fraley wrote on X.
Vandy football went 2-10 last year and finished dead last in the SEC. The Commodores haven't been bowl eligible since 2018.