In the long tradition of political campaigns unearthing a candidate's prior self, Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed finds himself navigating the distance between the public health advocate he was and the statewide candidate he is now. Deleted videos — including one bluntly titled 'why fireworks suck' — have resurfaced to complicate his bid, prompting him to reframe a cultural provocation as a narrow medical observation. The episode raises a question older than any single race: when a person edits their past before asking for public trust, what does the editing itself reveal?
El-Sayed defends fireworks criticism, suggests alternative July 4th celebrations
Maybe there are other ways to show your love.
Mark
So El-Sayed is saying the fireworks thing was always just about air quality and health. Why delete the videos if that's all it was?
Mimi
That's the question, isn't it. He says he wasn't anti-fireworks, just pro-alternatives. But the titles—"why fireworks suck"—suggest something more pointed than a technical air quality argument.
Luke
We should be careful here. We know he deleted videos. We know what CNN found in them. But we don't actually know his reasoning for the deletions. That's Rogers' interpretation, not confirmed fact.
Mark
Fair. But the timing is suspicious—delete them right before running for Senate?
Mimi
It does look like he anticipated they'd be used against him. Whether that's because he changed his mind or because he knew they'd be mischaracterized, we can't say for certain.
Luke
Exactly. And "mischaracterized" might be the right word. A public health argument about fireworks isn't inherently radical. But the framing of those videos—the chapter titles, the language—made them sound more like a cultural critique.
Mark
So what's the actual story here?
Mimi
A candidate trying to manage his past. Whether that's reasonable repositioning or calculated erasure depends on what you think he actually believes.
Luke
And we don't have enough to know that. We have the videos' existence, their deletion, and his current explanation. The rest is inference.
El Pulso
- Roughly 100 YouTube videos vanished from El-Sayed's channel before he announced his Senate run, including pointed critiques of Fourth of July fireworks on health and safety grounds.
- Republican opponent Mike Rogers moved quickly to weaponize the deletions, arguing on national television that El-Sayed was concealing his true beliefs from Michigan voters.
- Pressed on air by Charlamagne tha God, El-Sayed reframed the fireworks criticism not as cultural dissent but as a public health concern about air quality, asthma, and cardiac events.
- The clarification has done little to close the wound — the act of deletion itself now rivals the content of the videos as the central controversy.
- With neither campaign offering further comment, the fireworks dispute has hardened into a proxy battle over authenticity and what El-Sayed chose to hide before asking Michiganders for their vote.
In the long tradition of political campaigns unearthing a candidate's prior self, Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed finds himself navigating the distance between the public health advocate he was and the statewide candidate he is now. Deleted videos — including one bluntly titled 'why fireworks suck' — have resurfaced to complicate his bid, prompting him to reframe a cultural provocation as a narrow medical observation. The episode raises a question older than any single race: when a person edits their past before asking for public trust, what does the editing itself reveal?
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate, spent part of a Monday radio appearance on "The Breakfast Club" defending past criticism of Fourth of July fireworks — criticism that had already spent weeks reshaping his campaign.
The trouble began when CNN reported that El-Sayed had quietly deleted or hidden around 100 YouTube videos before entering the race. Among them was a video titled "why fireworks suck," which urged Americans to consider alternatives to fireworks on Independence Day, citing air quality damage and health risks to children and pets. When host Charlamagne tha God raised the subject, El-Sayed pushed back against what he called a distortion of his views. He insisted he wasn't opposed to fireworks outright — only pointing out that they degrade air quality and trigger asthma and heart problems. "Maybe there are other ways to show your love," he offered.
His Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, had already framed the deletions as something more damning than the videos themselves. Appearing on "Hannity" earlier in August, Rogers argued that El-Sayed had spent hours producing content attacking things ordinary Michiganders enjoy, then scrubbed it strategically once a Senate run became real. "If people really knew who he was, they wouldn't vote for him," Rogers said.
The fireworks episode has become a lens for the race's deeper question: not merely what El-Sayed believed before he ran, but why he chose to make those beliefs disappear. The gap between the public health communicator he was and the statewide candidate he is now has given his opponent a durable and concrete line of attack — one that the radio interview clarification may have done more to extend than to resolve.
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat, found himself defending comments about Fourth of July fireworks during a Monday appearance on "The Breakfast Club" radio show, months after videos making similar arguments had surfaced and become a flashpoint in his campaign.
The controversy began when CNN reported earlier in August that El-Sayed had deleted or hidden roughly 100 YouTube videos before launching his Senate bid. Among them was content urging Americans to find alternatives to fireworks for Independence Day celebrations, citing air quality degradation and health risks to children and pets. One video carried the blunt title "why fireworks suck" and included a chapter framed as "Fireworks just aren't worth it: hear us out."
When host Charlamagne tha God brought up the fireworks criticism during the radio interview, El-Sayed pushed back against what he characterized as a misreading of his position. "They're coming at me on fireworks," he said, suggesting that reducing American identity to fireworks alone represented an incomplete understanding of the country. He reframed his original argument in public health terms: fireworks degrade air quality and trigger asthma attacks and heart problems the following day. "I'm not saying we shouldn't have fireworks," he clarified. "I'm just saying maybe like there are other ways to show your love."
The deleted videos had already become ammunition for his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, the party's Senate nominee. During an appearance on "Hannity" earlier in the month, Rogers seized on the deletions as evidence that El-Sayed was hiding his true beliefs from voters. "This guy spent hours hating on what most Michiganders would enjoy in their pastimes, and he should be held to account for that," Rogers said. He emphasized that El-Sayed had held these views strongly enough to produce and post them, then removed them strategically as he entered the race. "If people really knew who he was, they wouldn't vote for him," Rogers argued.
The episode illustrates a recurring tension in modern campaigns: the gap between what candidates have said publicly in earlier contexts and the positions they emphasize during electoral runs. El-Sayed's framing of the fireworks criticism as a narrow public health observation rather than a sweeping cultural statement suggests an attempt to recalibrate how his words are understood. Yet the existence of the deleted videos—and the deliberate effort to remove them before announcing his candidacy—gives Rogers a concrete claim that El-Sayed recognized the statements would be politically damaging if left visible to voters.
Neither the El-Sayed nor Rogers campaigns responded to requests for additional comment. The fireworks dispute, while seemingly narrow in scope, has become emblematic of a larger question animating the race: what positions did El-Sayed hold before he decided to run for statewide office, and why did he choose to erase them from the public record?
Citas Notables
I'm not saying we shouldn't have fireworks. I'm just saying maybe like there are other ways to show your love.— Abdul El-Sayed, on 'The Breakfast Club'
This guy spent hours hating on what most Michiganders would enjoy in their pastimes, and he should be held to account for that.— Mike Rogers, Republican Senate nominee
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