Friday, July 17, 2026 | 6:42 a.m.
Olympic athletes deed Park MGM to a partition of sound — fans and passersby alike, decked successful Team USA gear, shook glittering reddish and bluish pom poms and waved hand-painted signs to invited them in.
It was the kickoff to SHE (Sports, Hospitality and Entertainment) Weekend hosted by longtime Las Vegas nonmigratory Flavor Flav and moving done Sunday.
The enactment didn’t halt there. It spilled crossed Bruno Mars Way into Toshiba Plaza, wherever fans of each ages shrugged disconnected triple-digit vigor and rising winds to creation the nighttime away, cheering connected their favourite sports stars.
Before the athletes arrived, a parade of assemblage organizations and section athletes — kids to veterans — marched past Park MGM, gathering the vigor connected the mode to Toshiba Plaza.
The lawsuit had a chiseled section consciousness with young women from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts’ Mariachi Femenil Internacional, the Las Vegas Stars Volleyball nine and the section subdivision of Girls connected the Run — a nationalist enactment that helps young girls physique social-emotional skills — getting the assemblage into a frenzy arsenic they passed.
Sandwiched betwixt them were women repping the Raiders, the Aces and the Golden Knights. Athletes waved from atop double-decker buses, pumping their fists arsenic the assemblage roared back: “USA! USA!”
It’s a first-of-its-kind solemnisation for Las Vegas — 1 galore of the sports stars had ne'er experienced earlier — built to nonstop a almighty connection to pistillate athletes crossed the globe.
“Just benignant of seeing the reactions we’re getting present and each the celebrations we’re gonna beryllium having this play and each the amusive surprises I’m definite we’re gonna beryllium seeing, I deliberation it’s conscionable truthful surreal that we get to acquisition this and observe this and it’s each for the women,” said Hayley Scamurra, U.S. women’s hockey subordinate and Olympic golden medalist. “I deliberation it’s astir clip that the women get the designation that we deserve.”
After watching the U.S. women’s hockey squad clinch golden astatine the 2026 Winter Olympics successful Italy, rapper and longtime Las Vegas nonmigratory Flavor Flav took to X with an idea: propulsion a solemnisation honoring their triumph — and women successful sports astatine large.
He backed it up with a GoFundMe, raising wealth to alert successful athletes and springiness them a play to retrieve — dinners, amusement tickets, the works. As of July, “Flavor Flav’s Fund to Support and Celebrate Female Athletes” had pulled successful implicit $138,000 toward its $150,000 goal.
A miss dada himself, Flavor Flav has agelong been successful the country of women’s sports.
He served arsenic authoritative hype antheral for the U.S. women’s bobsled squad during their Winter Olympic run, and sponsors some the men’s and women’s U.S. h2o polo teams. He was instrumental successful helping the women’s squad rise funds to vie astatine the 2024 Summer Olympics successful Paris.
It was a remark from President Trump earlier this twelvemonth that spurred Flavor Flav into action.
After some the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams clutched gold, videos surfaced of the men’s squad partying with FBI Director Kash Patel and taking a telephone from the president himself. Trump invited the men to his State of the Union code connected Feb. 25 — past joked during the telephone that helium expected he’d person to invitation the women too.
The comments drew backlash from pistillate athletes and their supporters, including U.S. women’s hockey squad skipper Hilary Knight, who called the remarks “distasteful.”
But teammate Alex Carpenter, a three-time Olympic medalist, told reporters up of the Thursday parade that the squad doesn’t clasp a grudge, and has appreciated the outpouring of enactment they’ve received successful the months since their shining Olympic performance.
Trump’s comments deed location for Flavor Flav, too, who felt the women’s teams were being “cheated retired of a solemnisation that they merit to have.”
Flavor Flav has seen that look earlier — the disappointment connected his daughters’ faces erstwhile thing large they’ve done goes unrecognized. It’s a look helium can’t stand. So erstwhile the pistillate athletes were near retired of the celebrations their antheral counterparts got, helium didn’t person to ideate however it felt.
One tweet was each it took to acceptable the full lawsuit successful question — yet pulling successful sponsors similar Delta Air Lines, who flew the athletes out, and MGM Resorts International, which pledged to springiness them everything they’d request to bask their play successful Vegas.
“For MGM Resorts and the City of Las Vegas to beryllium portion of this tremendous solemnisation of pistillate athletes and their bonzer enactment that they bash is beauteous special,” said Stephanie Glanzer, main income serviceman and elder VP of MGM Resorts. “I deliberation that supporting each athletes and everyone that is masters of their accomplishment is important to the organization, but much truthful for this preliminary lawsuit and this kickoff, and again, kudos to Flavor Flav for bringing this accidental to the metropolis and MGM Resorts due to the fact that it is thing that should hap … due to the fact that they merit this recognition, conscionable similar everybody does.”
Clark County commissioners approved the lawsuit astatine their gathering connected May 19, giving She’s Got Game LLC and spouse MGM Resorts the quality to unopen down a information of Las Vegas Boulevard to clasp a escaped parade successful the evening and philharmonic performances by acts specified arsenic Public Enemy and bassist-slash-singer Blu DeTiger.
The play volition beryllium packed with assorted parties and events astatine large casinos crossed the boulevard.
Over 100 Paralympians and Winter Olympic athletes are expected to amusement for the four-day, first-of-its-kind celebration, officials said.
County Commissioner Jim Gibson said the committee understands the “need to admit each of our athletes” and saw this lawsuit arsenic “another accidental to further found ourselves arsenic a sports and amusement person of the world.”
He besides pointed to the caller announcement that the Professional Women’s Hockey League would beryllium expanding to found teams successful Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario.
Scamurra volition beryllium 1 of the women connected that hockey team, and said she’s excited to observe much of Las Vegas during the SHE Weekend celebrations.
Women person to “fight truthful hard” to get the aforesaid designation arsenic men, truthful the enactment from Flavor Flav and the attraction SHE Weekend volition bring to women’s sports “means the satellite to us,” Scamurra said.
Flavor Flav stressed that this wasn’t conscionable a celebration, it was a telephone to action. He hopes the SHE Weekend volition statesman a much-needed contented of honoring and uplifting pistillate athletes everywhere, from those competing astatine the highest level of athletics to the young girls conscionable getting their commencement successful section Sunday leagues.
And, if each goes well, it could beryllium making a comeback successful the future.
“I conscionable privation the small girls to spot these athletes being palmy and achieving the goals, and I privation these small girls to know, hey, listen, if they tin bash it, and if these large athletes tin bash it, past they person a accidental to bash it too, you know,” Flavor Flav said during an affectional interrogation connected Thursday. “I deliberation the aboriginal of women’s sports is gonna turn brainsick close now, and I conscionable privation to accidental women’s sports are conscionable arsenic important arsenic men’s sports. I’m conscionable grateful to beryllium the 1 successful this presumption to beryllium capable to bring these athletes retired present and observe their extremity the mode they should beryllium celebrated.”
English (US)·