Video footage of Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed recounting how he destroyed property at a liquor store is circulating on social media.
El-Sayed appeared on the Intellectually Petty Radio podcast in May and told a story about a confrontation with a Muslim liquor store owner in his first year serving as Detroit’s health director.
“When I was first year as health director, I walked into a gas station/liquor store,” the candidate said. “... And I got this, this business owner, Arab guy who's got this big thick beard, right? … I was buying Gatorade or something and I bring it to them, to the teller to, to pay for it. And, and he says, oh, you know, ‘are you Muslim?’
I said, 'yeah.' He said, 'well, your beard is too short.' I was like, 'okay, you're gonna judge me? Okay, give me a second, I forgot something.' So I walk back, I get a fifth of vodka, and I put it on the counter. He's like, 'hey, you can't buy that.' I was like, 'you're right, and you can't sell it.' So I smashed it on the ground and walked out.
WATCH
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 4, 2026
In May this year, Abdul El-Sayed admitted to a violent rage where he smashed a bottle of vodka and destroyed a store owners property all because he was told his beard was too short. pic.twitter.com/KGMRbUR8Uc
Seems like a pretty extreme response to a rude cashier — especially for a government official, doesn’t it? What’s even more interesting is the lack of legacy media coverage on this story. If El-Sayed’s opponent, Mike Rogers, had told a similar story, there’s no doubt CNN and MSNBC would be giving it wall-to-wall coverage.
I spoke to Abdul El-Sayed in 2017.
— Ali Harb (@Harbpeace) August 4, 2026
"As an Arab American, there’s always a question about ‘Where are you from?’ For me the answer to that question is ‘I’m from Detroit."
He went on to scold Arab business owners who are not investing in the communities where they operate.…
But this isn’t the first time El-Sayed has criticized others of Arab descent in Detroit. In 2016, Arab American News interviewed him after he started his tenure as health director.
“I’m a human first and foremost, and an American second,” he said. “And fundamentally, as humans and Americans, we have a responsibility to equity. That’s the responsibility I serve every day.”
El-Sayed criticized some of Detroit’s Arab-American business owners, saying they have not been good citizens.
He said the way some Arab-owned liquor stores and gas stations conduct business is not consistent with Arab and American values.
“A number of folks don’t treat the community with respect and dignity,” he said. “Part of my being here is to say, ‘There are many of us. There’s not one group of Arab Americans. Not all of us own liquor stores that are contributing to the social ills of the neighborhood.'”
El-Sayed called on Arab Americans to rethink their responsibilities to the broader society.
He said as local Arabs push against racism that targets them, they need to address bigotry in their own communities.
“If we believe all people are equal, then we treat all people equally,” El-Sayed added. “We should not extract from communities.”
He urged small business owners to be involved in Detroit’s neighborhoods beyond making a profit.
“Sometimes it’s easy for us to retreat outside of Detroit, come in, sit behind a bullet proof glass, treat people poorly, sell them products that harm them and then say: I am just a businessman,” he said. “It is not that simple. We are a part of a community. We have an opportunity to sew ourselves into the fabric of that community.”
El-Sayed said, “The moment you point the finger and you’re like, ‘I am the victim here’, you have three others pointing back at you.”
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