NFL threatened Texans star over polarizing eye black with Palestine reference

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 ...