The NFL has fined Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for wearing eye black with the message “stop the genocide” during the team’s January 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Azeez Al-Shaair, a practicing Muslim with a long history of dirty play, wore eye black not just during the game but also in post-game interviews, specifically on ESPN’s SportsCenter, according to the New York Post.
The NFL, though, now says that eye black violates its rule against “wearing eye black that contained a personal message.”
Al-Shaair claimed that the so-called “genocide” he was referring to was the situation going on in Gaza, supposedly at the hands of Israel against the terrorist group Hamas and the “Palestinians.”
“I feel like it’s something that’s trying to be almost silenced,” the Muslim player claimed in 2024. “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] innocent people [in Gaza] should now die, it’s crazy.”
“[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,” he said.
Al-Shaair remains a controversial player due to his often political proclamations. Last year, for instance, Al-Shaair wore cleats with the message “Free Palestine.”
The cleats feature the unverified number of Palestinians supposedly killed by the Israeli military. But, naturally, don’t mention the Palestinian terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Al-Shaair wore the cleats during a practice at minicamp in July of 2025 and also donned the shoes at the press conference after the day’s activities.
Al-Shaair was the player guilty of the dirty hot on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in December of 2024. It was an act he initially defended and even claimed that anyone criticizing him was “racist.”
Al-Shaair later apologized for the hit, but even while supposedly apologizing, he dismissed his dirty hit as “just competition.”
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