El-Sayed Suggests Football Is Unethical, Based on 'Toxic Masculinity'... But Turns Out He Was HS Team Captain
American as apple pie? Try “unethical” and “toxically masculine.” That’s how Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed describes football.
On Monday, Fox News revealed several of El-Sayed’s questionable statements about America’s pastime — sorry baseball fans, but the numbers don’t lie.
“What is it about this brutal sport that keeps us coming back?” Democratic candidate El-Sayed said in a 2023 podcast episode. “Is there a version of football that’s actually ethical and safe? What would need to change?”
Fox News also quoted a 2021 podcast where El-Sayed claimed that “football is very much associated with a particularly masculine and oftentimes… toxically masculine culture.”
Reporting by The Midwesterner found that later the same year, he doubled down while addressing the resignation of then-Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. Instead of only condemning the bad behavior itself, El-Sayed referenced again the “toxic masculinity at the heart of America’s most popular sport.”
When faced with such a strange claim, we’re forced to judge: Is this a principled proclamation or a political ploy?
You see, El-Sayed played football in high school. He was even team captain!
Has he apologized for participating in and propagating such a toxically masculine and unethical system? Of course not.
It looks like a calculated political move — a very bold move for a man campaigning to represent 10 million Michiganders who, generally speaking, love football.
Even his fellow progressive politicians haven’t been so reckless as to critique the state’s great love:
“GRIT lies at the foundation of the Michigan spirit and drives the Detroit Lions, fueling us to dig deeper, push harder, rise above any challenge, and outplay any opponent, no matter their size or strength,” said Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a January 2025 press release.
Lieutenant Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II added, “This team represents resilience, determination, and the unbreakable spirit of our state.”
El-Sayed’s fellow Democrats realize that football plays a useful role in society — a very useful role. Pouring our competitive and — in the case of football particularly — aggressive natures into artificial tribes lets us exercise away the tribalism and toxic attributes that destabilized society in the past. Even the most liberal of Michigan politicians realize this.
Why on Earth then, given popular support of football, would El-Sayed risk alienating the electorate?
Perhaps his use of the phrase “toxically masculine” is his way of distancing himself from the clear sexism of Sharia law.
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has been hounded by this concept of “Sharia law” — the domineering moral, political, and religious system of Islam. Recognizing that supporting Sharia would be political suicide, El-Sayed has been careful to distance himself from the concept.
Yet, during an August interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters, the Democratic candidate revealed that he wouldn’t support a Sharia ban, maintaining that while he practices it privately, he would not impose it publicly.
Sharia, however, is full of commands and expectations that are public — not private. Muhammad himself clearly taught that Allah’s law wasn’t just a private matter.
And here’s the danger of Sharia becoming public law: In practice, it degrades the legal standing of women, permits domestic violence, and allows child marriage.
But football is the problem? If El-Sayed critiques high school football while minimizing the evident subversion of basic human rights, maybe he shouldn’t be given a position of leadership.
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