Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny after writings from 2021 resurfaced in which he blamed “toxic masculinity” for deep-rooted problems in American football culture.
The piece was published on Substack following the resignation of then-Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who stepped down after emails surfaced containing racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language.
“The toxic masculinity at the heart of America’s most popular sport, and men’s sports culture more generally, is way deeper than a few emails or a Jay-Z turnaround,” El-Sayed wrote at the time.
What makes the comments particularly striking is that El-Sayed was a football player himself. According to a report, he was a two-year starter and captain at Andover High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, playing center on offense and nose guard on defense. A 2002 newspaper preview listed him at 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds, identifying him as one of three returning team captains.
El-Sayed described football as a meaningful part of his upbringing, but also painted a troubling picture of what he said took place away from the field.
“On the football field, I felt free,” he wrote. “And yet on the sidelines and in the locker room, I was fed a hefty dose of the worst kinds of racist taunting.”
He argued that a corrosive culture had been passed down through the sport for generations. “Racism, misogyny, and homophobia were lingua franca,” he wrote.
El-Sayed also took direct aim at the NFL, accusing the league of “deep-rooted racism” and pointing to Colin Kaepernick’s protests as proof. He criticized the league’s subsequent attempts at social justice messaging, writing: “Since Colin Kaepernick unveiled the league’s deep-rooted racism, the NFL has hired Jay-Z to lead a brand turnaround.”
In a notable turn, he held up Ted Lasso, the fictional coach from the Apple TV+ series, as a model for better sports leadership. “Ted cries. He talks through his problems. He encourages his players. He bakes biscuits for his boss. He smiles, like, all the time,” El-Sayed wrote.
He called on coaches to build environments around “positive, inclusive, and empowering values,” while still crediting sports with teaching discipline, teamwork, and perseverance.
“Sport is a metaphor for life,” he wrote. “For millions of young people, sports can teach life’s lessons in a safe and nurturing environment.”
The resurfaced writings add a fresh layer of complexity to El-Sayed’s campaign at a critical moment. For a candidate running in a politically competitive state where football runs deep in the culture, the remarks are likely to generate debate well beyond the sports world.