Flavor Flav has been a lot of things in his career: a Grammy-nominated rapper and co-founder of Public Enemy, a reality TV star, a noted clock enthusiast, even the official hype man of the U.S. women’s national water polo team. But now, he can add college football mascot to the list as he debuted as Tubby, the googly-eyed mayonnaise mascot for Duke’s Mayo, on Friday night.
Flavor Flav was unveiled as Tubby at the end of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl college football game in Charlotte, N.C. As is tradition with the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which began in 2020 after replacing the Belk Bowl, Flavor Flav dumped five gallons of mayonnaise on top of winning coach P.J. Fleck, whose Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the Virginia Tech Hokies by 24-10.
In the college football world, there are more than 30 bowl games that compete for sports viewers’ divided attention, and organizers have been upping the viral shenanigans each season. In 2023, the inaugural Pop-Tart Bowl introduced a wild-eyed, edible mascot and a pastry-inspired trophy that went viral online. Meanwhile, a Cheez-It mascot officiated a wedding at the Citrus Bowl this past New Year’s Eve.
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Duke’s Mayo began doing the mayonnaise dump in 2021, and last year the company hosted a Mayo Combine for fans. Participants competed in five mayo-themed challenges, like deadlifting jugs of mayo and catching footballs covered in the condiment, and the winners got to dump mayo on the winning coach. This year, Rebecca Lupesco, brand director at Duke’s, wanted to amp up the mayo excitement with a celebrity guest.
“We started looking at different celebrities out there, and flavor is what Duke’s is known for,” Lupesco told Variety. “It’s our unique flavor that people love. When we were reaching out to him, he said he had this unhealthy love of mayonnaise.”
“I’ve always had mayonnaise on my sandwiches and everything,” Flavor Flav said. “Not that I’m a big mayonnaise freak — nothing like that — but I do like mayonnaise.”
Flavor Flav has been busy this college football playoff season. He pulled up to the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve to cheer on the Penn State Nittany Lions as they defeated the Boise State Broncos and advanced to the semifinals (Flavor Flav’s cousin, Shep Garner, used to play basketball at Penn State). This past Olympics season, he also signed a five-year deal to become the hype man for the women’s national water polo team.
Duke’s gave the rapper a custom yellow clock chain with spoons for the hands, and yellow sneakers with mayo-like swirls and a clock printed on them. He donned the Tubby costume, a large Duke’s jug with bushy eyebrows, on a chilly Friday night after the game was over.
“The costume was great,” he said. “Man, it’s lighter than I thought it was. It’s pretty cool. Not only that, but it was pretty warm because it’s cold out there.”
As for Flavor Flav’s future as Tubby? He’s open to coming back next year: “If they want me to be here and do this again, I’d be more than honored to come back here and do this again.”