Dozens of Team USA women Olympians and Paralympians received keys to the Las Vegas Strip during the inaugural SHE Weekend parade Thursday night.
The women athletes stood on stage at Toshiba Plaza on the Las Vegas Strip with rapper Flavor Flav and Clark County commissioner Tick Segerblom with personalized keys to the Strip. After the women received the keys, Segerblom announced that July 16 was officially "Flavor Flav Day."
"Flavor saw what was happening, stepped up to the plate, threw this event, and look what you created," Segerblom said. "On behalf of the Clark County Commission, today is Flavor Flav Day."
Flavor Flav, a 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, created the weekend-long celebration with MGM Resorts to recognize and honor Team USA's women athletes from the 2026 Winter Games. After becoming a hype man and sponsor of the men's and women's United States Olympic bobsled/skeleton team in 2025, he amplified his support of Team USA after President Donald Trump invited the U.S. men's hockey team to the State of the Union during its locker room celebration in Milan and jokingly added that the women's gold-medal-winning team would also have to be included.
Despite never attending the State of the Union because of prior academic and professional commitments, the women's hockey team took Flav up on his offer when he expressed interest in inviting the women to Las Vegas for a celebration. Months later, the invitation developed into "SHE Weekend," a celebration of women Olympians and Paralympians.
"I'm getting a little sentimental right now because I'm happy, and if I do cry some tears, this is tears of joy," Flav told the media before the parade. "Nothing has happened like this ever."
SHE Weekend kicked off with a celebration at Park MGM, followed by a parade and free public concert featuring Public Enemy, Blu de Tiger and Grace Bowers. Thousands of people lined the Las Vegas Strip to catch a glimpse of the parade, which included local girls' youth sports teams, community groups, members of the Las Vegas Aces and the honorees of the night.
The Olympians and Paralympians will continue celebrating all weekend with Flav, partaking in private dinners and concerts.
"I think celebrating women in sports is something we really need to bring into the limelight," figure skater and 2026 Olympic Games gold medalist Amber Glenn told ESPN. "And I'm so glad that Flavor Flav was able to make this event happen. ... We've never had an event like this to celebrate women in sports."
Team USA members in attendance for SHE Weekend include figure skater Alysa Liu, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, hockey players Hilary Knight and Laila Edwards, cross-country skier Jessica Diggins, Paralympian Oksana Masters and dozens more.
