Abdul El-Sayed scrubs podcast where he called to scrap Independence Day fireworks, 2nd Amendment

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has deleted a series of old videos in which he attacked the Fourth of July fireworks tradition, questioned the importance of the southern border and even floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care.

The latest revelation comes as El-Sayed faces renewed scrutiny over his extensive archive of political and cultural commentary, much of which has disappeared from public view since he entered the 2026 Senate race. In a now-private July 2024 podcast episode, El-Sayed urged Americans to “PLEASE” find another way to celebrate the Fourth of July, introducing a segment titled “Fireworks just aren’t worth it: hear us out.”

He declared: “Fireworks suck,” citing air pollution in Detroit, chemicals used in fireworks, their potential impact on veterans with PTSD and the danger they pose to children and pets. The video was later removed from his YouTube channel, along with at least 100 other pieces of content, according to CNN’s review of archived material. The Marguerite Casey Foundation, a major progressive philanthropic organization whose stated mission is to support movements seeking to shift political and economic power toward marginalized communities, endorsed the message. The foundation has funded organizations focused on immigration, racial justice and other progressive causes.

El-Sayed’s campaign has insisted that his old commentary does not represent his current views, but in an April 2023 video that has also since disappeared, El-Sayed proposed changing the Constitution to replace the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care. “What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have health care?” he asked.

El-Sayed argued that such a change would mean “fewer people dying by gun and more people living because they have health care.” Another deleted episode saw him dismiss the southern border as an issue Republicans “love to flog,” arguing that it did not rank among the five issues Americans cared most about. His record on policing has already come under fire. In 2020, El-Sayed said, “we do need to defund the police,” describing the policy as shifting resources away from policing and toward schools, social services and anti-poverty programs. He has since disputed the characterization and argued that his comments were taken out of context.

In a February 2023 podcast episode, El-Sayed questioned whether football could ever be “ethical” or “safe,” arguing that narratives historically used to justify slavery and westward expansion were “echoed in the ethos of football.” The revelations come days after El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, defeating moderate Rep. Haley Stevens and setting up a general-election contest against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers.