NFL fines Texans star Azeez Al-Shaair for wearing ‘Stop the Genocide’ eye black, igniting fierce debate over politics, protest and free speech
Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was fined $11,593 by the NFL for wearing eye black that contained the political message “stop the genocide” during last Monday’s wild-card win over the Steelers, according to ESPN.
Al-Shaair, who wore the eye black both during the game and during a postgame interview on “SportsCenter,” violated the league’s equipment rule about “wearing eye black that contained a personal message,” according to the outlet.
His message communicated by the eye black referenced the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, something that Al-Shaair — who is Muslim — has also spotlighted in the past through the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” initiative.
Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair wears eye black with the message “stop the genocide” during the national anthem before facing the Steelers on Jan. 12, 2026.
“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] 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.”
This marked the latest instance of the NFL cracking down on players expressing political messages through equipment, with the 49ers’ Nick Bosa fined $11,255 by the league last season for crashing teammate Brock Purdy’s on-field, postgame interview while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat in support of now-President Donald Trump weeks before the 2024 election.
Azeez Al-Shaair was fined by the NFL for wearing eye black that contained a personal message.
Bosa’s decision to wear the hat, according to multiple reports at the time, violated rule 5, section 4, article 8 of the rulebook, which stated: “Throughout the period on game-day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”
Al-Shaair, a 28-year-old in his seventh NFL season, made the first Pro Bowl of his career after collecting 103 tackles and nine passes defended during the regular season, according to Pro-Football-Reference.
He then collected six total tackles and a tackle for loss during Houston’s 30-6 victory of the Steelers in the opening round of the playoffs, allowing the Texans to face New England on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.
The winner will advance to the AFC Championship game and face the Broncos, who defeated the Bills in an overtime thriller Saturday but lost star quarterback Bo Nix for the remainder of the postseason due to a fractured right ankle.
