Flavor Flav Pays Olympian Veronica Fraley’s Rent After She Reveals Financial Hardship
Flavor Flav stepped up to help an Olympic athlete who expressed urgent need.
Veronica Fraley, a student at Vanderbilt University who is currently competing with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, took to social media to vent her financial frustrations, leading to assistance from the Public Enemy hypeman.
“I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent,” she wrote on X Thursday (Aug 1). “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,” adding several emojis through the post.
Upon seeing the message, Flavor Flav responded by offering to cover the 24-year-old’s housing costs. As the 2024 NCAA discus champion, Fraley is set to compete in the discus throw qualifications on Friday. The finals are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 5.
“I gotchu, DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry bout it TOMORROW,” he replied. “And imma be rooting for ya tomorrow LETZ GO!!!”
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined in, sending the top athlete enough to pay more than one month of rent, granting her a sense of financial security. “C’mon now! I’ll split it…,” he responded to Flavor Flav, following up with a screenshot of a $7,760 payment to Fraley.
Still, Fraley launched a GoFundMe campaign to, “support my track and field journey as I start my professional athletic career and continue to represent Team USA, with a goal of $20,000.” As of Friday morning, she has raised $16,111.
“Thanks for the supporting messages but I want to clarify my irritation isn’t with the school itself,” clarified Fraley in a follow-up post on X. “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. Wish me luck tm!”
Fraley is not the only Olympic athlete to see financial support from the Hip-Hop veteran this year. Last month, the USA Water Polo team revealed the 65-year-old signed an unprecedented five-year sponsorship deal as the official hype man for the USA Water Polo Women’s and Men’s National Teams.
As part of the sponsorship, Flavor Flav made undisclosed monetary contributions to the 2024 USA Women’s Water Polo Olympic Team.
“This is one of the biggest things that I feel that I could have ever done in life, outside of the other accomplishments that I’ve made to music,” explained the New York native, per CNBC. “By sponsoring a water polo team and helping these girls out, this is bigger than me winning a Grammy.”
More from VIBE.com
