The Houston Texans’ defense was the story of their Wild Card round win in Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football. And postgame, one of the team’s defensive tone-setters generated plenty of attention of his own.
During an interview on SportsCenter after the win, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair made a political statement rarely seen among high-profile sports figures, wearing eye black etched with the phrase “Stop the Genocide.”
Al-Shaair’s message would appear to be in reference to the ongoing onslaught on Gaza by Israeli forces, which a United Nations commission of inquiry and numerous human rights groups have deemed a genocide.
— Douglas Reyes-Ceron (@dreyesceron.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T04:48:16.015Z
As early as November 2024, Al-Shaair was on record publicly opposing the conflict in Gaza. The Texans star used the NFL’s annual “My Cleats My Cause” initiative to demonstrate his support for the “Free Palestine” cause, according to Chron.
“I feel like it’s something that’s trying to be almost silenced,” Al-Shaair told Chron then, expressing that he sees the issue as a human rights concern, not a political one. “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.”
Al-Shaair also reportedly donated money to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and signed on with the Athletes for Ceasefire initiative.
However, this type of advocacy inevitably takes on a different meaning when it is elevated to national television. By sitting live on an NFL broadcast on ESPN, Al-Shaair has already generated more attention than he did throughout the past two seasons.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.