Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed drew widespread ridicule Wednesday after daring his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, to settle their dispute with a no-pads football matchup.
The unusual challenge came after Rogers, 63, criticized El-Sayed, 41, over since-deleted social media videos in which the former public health official was accused of “advocating doing away with our fireworks, football, the Fourth of July.”
“He should be held to account for that,” Rogers, a former FBI special agent, said during an appearance on Fox News, claiming El-Sayed had “spent hours hating on what most Michiganders would enjoy.”
El-Sayed shot back on X: “Since you’re too afraid to debate me, how about you ‘hold me accountable’ on a football field instead. Tackle, no pads like we used to play when we were kids. I’d be happy to show you [how] much I love football.”
Rogers’ campaign answered the eyebrow-raising proposal with a jab at El-Sayed’s height.
“That’s an awfully tall threat coming from down there,” the Mike Rogers War Room account posted on X.
El-Sayed has previously joked that he is “only 5’9…in shoes.”
The exchange also left other social media users questioning why El-Sayed responded so dramatically to Rogers’ remarks.
“He’s really a very hostile person,” former White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair wrote on X.
“No one made him say American football is basically slavery,” Blair continued, referencing one of El-Sayed’s old YouTube videos. “That was his choice. What a baby.”
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt reacted to the challenge by likening El-Sayed to an “Oompa Loompa” with a “serious little man complex.”
“Bro is always overcompensating for something…” Pratt wrote on X.
Former Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin was also confounded by El-Sayed’s desire to physically go after Rogers.
“Who does this appeal to? Does the toxic masculinity crowd like this?” McLaughlin tweeted.
Rogers’ criticism of El-Sayed came after the Dem candidate in 2023 said “Football is very much associated with a particularly masculine and oftentimes toxically masculine culture” on a pre-Super Bowl podcast.
“Is there a version of football that’s actually ethical, safe?” he also asked, according to reports.
He has also go into an online fight over football with actor Dean Cain, who publicly questioned if El-Sayed played the sport in high school. The Democrat responded with pictures of himself in his football uniform.
