Eagle-eyed NFL fans took aim at Azeez Al-Shaair on Sunday night after spotting a controversial political message on his cleats for the Texans-Jaguars game.
The linebacker was already in the bad books of many for a brutal hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence, that led to him being ejected from the game.
And now more fans are piling in, after noticing a bold ‘Free Palestine‘ message on his cleats.
The Tampa-born NFL star, 27, had ‘Free’ written on the outside of his cleats in red and green Palestine colors, with messages written on the side.
On one cleat, it read: ‘Surely to Allah we belong and to him we will all return,’ while the other said: ‘At least 41,788 Palestinians killed. 10,000+ estimated to be under the rubble. 96,794 wounded.’
Al-Shaair is a practicing Muslim, and he joined the Texans in March on a three-year, $34million contract.
Azeez Al-Shaair wore pro-Palestine cleats on Sunday, before being ejected for fighting
The cleats featured the word ‘Free’ on the outsides, written in the colors of the Palestine flag
The cleats can be seen on Al-Shaair’s feet as he collides with Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence
Taking to X, many NFL fans piled in on the player for using the sport to share his political views, with one writing: ‘Ooh now I really hate him.’
Another urged the NFL to suspend him, but others defended him and wrote: ‘Religion of peace.’
Yet more fans brought up Nick Bosa’s recent fine for wearing a Donald Trump MAGA hat and speculated over the punishment Al-Shaair will face for his own political message.
The linebacker first hit the headlines on Sunday for a brutal hit on Jaguars QB Lawrence, that left him motionless on the turf and sparked a huge brawl between the teams.
Lawrence was running for a first down and slid to give himself up on the play. Al-Shaair did not pull up and made a vicious hit to the upper body and helmet of the quarterback.
As soon as the hit was delivered, tight end Evan Engram is the first to start shoving Al-Shaair, with several others from both teams involved in the scrum seconds later.
Lawrence was eventually carted off and alert, while Al-Shaair was ejected from the game.
Lawrence was ruled out of the game soon after with a concussion with Mac Jones replacing him at quarterback.
Players from the Texans and Jaguars brawled after Lawrence was hit by Al-Shaair in the game
Al-Shaair had to be held back by his teammates as he tried to fight Jacksonville players
Lawrence laid motionless on the turf before being carted off and not returning to the game
Jacksonville’s Jarrian Jones was also ejected from the game, while Engram was assessed a 15-yard penalty for being the first to engage Al-Shaair in a fight.
Al-Shaair needed to be removed from the field by stadium security and Texans’ personnel after fans at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville pelted him with garbage.
Before leaving the field, Al-Shaair got into a shouting match with Jaguars offensive lineman Brandon Scherff that nearly led to a second brawl.
‘Trevor Lawrence suffered a significant traumatic brain injury (#TBI) here. He shows a clear “fencing response”, which means he is knocked out with a #concussion & deeper parts of his brain are malfunctioning. Wishing him the best,’ said Chris Nowinski, founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, on social media.
