Following Week 1, the NFL announced fines for four Texans players, including linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, for a message written on his eye black during Houston’s game against the Bills.<\/p>\n
Al-Shaair was fined\u00a0$11,941 for having the name “Hind Rajab” written on his eye black during Week 1.\u00a0Rajab was a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in 2024, along with six members of her family, in a car under fire from Israeli forces.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Dallas Mavericks<\/a> star guard Kyrie Irving wrote on social media that he plans to pay Al-Shaair’s fine.<\/p>\n Here’s what to know about Irving’s commitment to pay Al-Shaair’s fine.<\/p>\n SN’s NBA HQ:\u00a0Live NBA scores<\/a> | Updated NBA standings<\/a>\u00a0| Full NBA schedule<\/a><\/p>\n Kyrie Irving offers to pay NFL fine related to Pro-Palestine eye black message<\/p>\n During the Texans’ Week 1 matchup against the Bills, Al-Shaair wore eye black with Rajab’s name written on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NFL’s rules prohibit players from wearing items with personal messages that are not approved by the league, which is specified in\u00a0Rule 6, Section 4, Article 8 of the rulebook:<\/p>\n “Throughout the period on game day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warmups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), 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.”<\/p>\n In January, Al-Shaair received a similar fine for\u00a0a message on his eye black that read \u201cstop the genocide.\u201d He’s remained outspoken about advocating for Palestinians and humanitarian causes,\u00a0also supporting the Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund through the NFL\u2019s \u201cMy Cause, My Cleats\u201d program.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s bigger than me,\u201d Al-Shaair told reporters after the fine in January, per The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cThe things that are going on make people uncomfortable, (so) imagine how those people feel. I have no affiliation or connection to these people other than the fact that I\u2019m a human being. If you have a heart and you\u2019re a human being, then you can see what\u2019s going on in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m walking off this field, that\u2019s the type of stuff that I\u2019m thinking about that I have to check myself when I\u2019m sitting here crying about football when there\u2019s people dying every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has been fined $11,593 for wearing eye black that contained the message “stop the genocide” during last week’s wild-card game, a source told @AdamSchefter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Al-Shaair was fined for violating NFL uniform and equipment rules by wearing eye black\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/bvJdrTxaKc<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ESPN (@espn) January 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n On Wednesday, Irving said on X that he plans to “take care of” Al-Shaair’s fine.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll take care of his fine https:\/\/t.co\/RUo9jXkCFu<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kyrie\ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffe (@KyrieIrving) September 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n