US actor and rapper William Jonathan Drayton Jr. known by his stage name Flavor Flav (R), gestures during the women's water polo preliminary round group B match between USA and France during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 2, 2024. — Photo: Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Vanderbilt's discus thrower and Olympian Veronica Fraley lamented on social media that she needed help paying the rent.
Hip-hop artiste Flavor Flav and entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian decided to help.
Soon after Fraley posted on the social media platform, X, that she was in need of financial assistance, Flav, founding member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy and a big fan of USA Water Polo, responded: "I gotchu.”
Right on top that, Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and husband of tennis star Serena Williams, wrote: "Got you!” He followed through, too, by posting a picture of paying US$7,760 and writing, "’Murica.”
In her post, Fraley alluded to the fact that her school pays about 75% of her rent while "they pay football players (who haven’t won anything) enough to buy new cars and houses." She added three "thumbs-down” emojis. The Commodores football team went 2-10 last season, while Fraley won the NCAA discus title this season, set the school record and earned a spot on Team USA at U.S. Olympic track trials.
She also started a GoFundMe page that has raised US$18,787 of her US$20,000 goal. She appreciated the gesture of Flav and Ohanian and wrote: "THANKYOU & @FlavorFlav SO MUCH. This makes every difference in the WORLD & I hope to represent team USA well this week."
Fraley went through the qualifying round Friday night, but didn't earn a spot into the discus final.
Flav is in Paris as part of his duties as the official hype man for USA Water Polo – a partnership that came together after he connected with US captain Maggie Steffens on Instagram in May.
Fraley made sure to point out in a later post that her criticism wasn’t with Vanderbilt.
"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 favours popularity over performance," she wrote. "That’s all I’m sayin.”
In a statement, the school said: "Vanderbilt is committed to supporting our student-athletes as they pursue their full potential. We provided our student-athlete Veronica Fraley with the maximum financial aid consistent with NCAA regulations. We also help our student-athletes navigate name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities, acknowledging that these are completely separate and independent of the university by NCAA regulations and state law.”
The statement went on to congratulate Fraley on not only her "many athletic accomplishments but also for completing her courses to attain her master’s degree,” the school said. "It is exciting that a Vanderbilt graduate is representing the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games.” — AP
