Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav is a man of his word, and the rapper proved it on Wednesday night (Sept. 11) when he presented U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles with a very special custom neck piece. The veteran MC took the stage to hand out the first award at the 2024 MTV VMAs alongside the American athlete, who was stripped of her bronze medal at this summer’s Paris Olympics due to a scoring dispute during the women’s individual floor exercise.
But Flav, who has become one of the nation’s most ardent athletic supporters this year, made things right. Taking the stage in a pink sweatsuit with a matching custom oversized clock pendant, Flav said it was “such an honor to be standing right next to Jordan Chiles,” as the gymnast smiled at the love from the rap icon.
Wearing a silver halter dress with long black gloves, Chiles looked surprised when Flav said he wanted to turn their intro for the best collaboration award into a “little Olympic moment.” Reaching into his pocket, Flav pulled out the custom bejeweled bronze clock pendant he had made for for Chiles, saying, “Jordan, I know they tried to take your medal away from you. But you know what? I got you something that they can’t take away from you.”
Flav then put the giant timepiece around Chiles’ neck as the audience howled at the special moment. “I don’t even know what to say here,” Chiles said, beaming. As she thanked Flav, the “Don’t Believe the Hype” rapper pulled out one of his water polo caps from the Olympics — Flav famously gave financial support and free cruises to the U.S. women’s team — while changing out his glasses to a gold pair while hyping up his sponsorship of the water polo squad. “That’s why I wanted to turn this into an Olympic moment, a’ight?” he said, before revealing that he would also be gifting Jordan the prize money she missed out on.
“I got your prize money for you!” Flav said. “What an honor Flav!” Chiles said as the pair then teamed up to give out the award for best collaboration to Taylor Swift and Post Malone for their song “Fortnight.”
