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The NFL reportedly threatened to remove Azeez Al-Shaair from last week’s game if he didn’t remove his pro-Palestinian eye black.
The Texans linebacker opened the Week 2 game against the Bengals with the name of Wafaa Akila, an 8-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in an Israeli air strike last week, under his eyes, before taking it off mid-game, according to a report from The Athletic.
A week prior, Al-Shaair was fined $11,492 for writing “Hind Rajab,” another Palestinian who was killed in January 2024, beneath his eyes during a loss to the Bills and in postgame interviews.
It was the second time he was fined by the league for displaying a political message on the field after writing “Stop the Genocide” on his eye black last January. He was dinged $11,593.
This time around, Al-Shaair wasn’t fined, per the outlet.
League rules prohibit players from displaying personal messages on game days, including pregame warmups and postgame interviews, without advance approval from the league.
Al-Shaair, who is Muslim, has long been outspoken about the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
“I feel like it’s something that’s trying to be almost silenced,” Al-Shaair told the Houston Chronicle during the 2024 season. “On either side, people losing their life is not right. In no way, shape or form am I validating anything that happened, but to consistently say that because of [Oct. 7, 2023] innocent people [in Gaza] should now die, it’s crazy.
“[Other people] try to make a disconnect and dehumanize people over there. And it’s like, they’re human beings. Being a Muslim, we see everybody the same; Black, white, Spanish, whatever you are; you can be orange, like, we’re all human beings.”
Al-Shaair isn’t the first player to be fined by the league for expressing political messages through equipment.
In 2024, 49ers pass rusher Nick Bosa was fined for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat as he crashed a postgame interview weeks before the 2024 election.
