By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Vanderbilt’s discus thrower and Olympian Veronica Fraley lamented on social media that she needed help paying the rent.
Hip-hop artist 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 $7,760.00 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 $12,041 of her $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.”
Flav said he will be rooting for her and added “LETZ GO,!!!” The rapper 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 U.S. 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 favors popularity over performance,” she wrote. “That’s all I’m sayin.”
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games