Rap star Flavor Flav and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian came to the aid of an American Olympian who said she couldn’t pay her rent.
“I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent … 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,” Veronica Fraley said in a Thursday post on the social platform X.
Fraley is a discus thrower for the U.S. track and field team. She attends Vanderbilt University and placed first in discus for the 2024 NCAA Division I outdoor track and field championships, according to results from the competition.
“I gotchu,,, DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry bout it TOMORROW,,, and imma be rooting for ya tomorrow LETZ GO,!!!” Flavor Flav said in response to Fraley’s post on X.
First, Ohanian replied to that response, saying he’d split the bill.
Ohanian then responded to Fraley’s post, featuring a screenshot of a Venmo payment of $7,760 to the athlete. He confirmed his payment in an email to The Hill.
“‘MURICA,” Ohanian captioned the payment in the screenshot.
In a post Thursday afternoon, Fraley said she welcomed “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 [name, image and likeness] … which favors popularity over performance.”
Flavor Flav also reposted a GoFundMe page from Fraley titled “Fuel Veronica Fraley’s Track and Field Journey.”
In a statement Friday, Vanderbilt said it “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,” the statement said.
The Hill has reached out to Flavor Flav for further comment.
—Updated Aug. 2 at 4:13 p.m.