American football player Azeez Al-Shaair from Houston Texans was given a $11,593 fine for wearing a pro-Palestinian message during a post-season NFL match last week, a play-off match against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He sticked a black strip behind his eyes, with the message "Stop the Genocide".
Al-Shaair, born in Florida, spent much of his childhood in Saudi Arabia. After the match, he told ESPN that "he understood what he was doing". "I was told that if I wore that in the game, I would be pulled out the game. At the end of the day, it's bigger than me, the things that are going on. If it makes people uncomfortable, imagine how those people feel. I think that's the biggest thing."
According to the NFL rules, 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" while being visible on the stadium.
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But Azeez Al-Shaair has supported the shown his support for Palestinian people before, displaying the word 'Free' and a Palestinian flag on his shows before. "I have no affiliation, no connection to these people other than the fact that I'm a human being (...) Others 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."
The Texans won that match against the Steelers, but eventually they lost to the Patriots 16-28. The Conference Championships of the NFL will take place next Sunday, January 25: Patriots vs. Broncos in the AFC and Rams vs. Seahawks in the NFC.