The scrutiny surrounding ESPN emerged after the outlet reported on Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving’s response to Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s $11,941 fine for wearing Hind Rajab’s name on his face. While ESPN’s report identified Rajab and explained the context behind Al-Shaair’s tribute, its social media post promoting the story did not mention her name. That omission drew criticism from Irving, who directly called out ESPN on social media, writing:
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“Her name is HIND RAJAB … And She was more brave than every single one of you at ESPN.”
Now, however, ESPN’s Mina Kimes came in support of her employer, as she shared screenshots of the linked article that identified Rajab and that Al-Shaair had written her name on his eye black.
“The girl, named Hind Rajab, was killed by Israeli forces along with six members of her family after their car came under fire in Gaza City in 2024,” the ESPN article read, which Kimes shared on her X handle. “The Israeli military acknowledged for the first time last month that it opened fire on the vehicle carrying Rajab’s family and said it had opened a criminal investigation into the killing.
“AI-Shaair was hit with a similar fine in January for displaying the message “stop the genocide” on his eye black during a game last season. Al-Shaair, who is Muslim, had aided Palestinians on the field by wearing cleats to support their causes through the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” program over the past few seasons.”
The development gained momentum after Shaair wrote “Hind Rajab” across his eye black during the Week 1 Texans vs. Buffalo Bills matchup. Rajab was killed in Gaza in 2024 after the vehicle in which she was travelling with family members came under fire.
She survived the initial attack, but was later found dead along with family members and two paramedics who had been dispatched to rescue her. Later, the Israeli military acknowledged in August 2026 that its forces had fired at the vehicle and said a criminal investigation had been opened.
Meanwhile, Al-Shaair’s tribute became controversial, as the NFL’s uniform/equipment rules prohibit players from displaying personal messages without prior league approval. Hence, the league fined the linebacker $11,941.
After the fine was announced, Kyrie Irving came in support of Al-Shaair and offered to “take care” of his fine. As that went down, ESPN published a post on X, writing:
“Kyrie Irving has offered to pay Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s $11,941 fine for having the name of a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza written on his eye black during Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.”
Right after that, the Dallas Mavericks star pointed out to ESPN’s omission of Rajab’s name from the social media post, which led Mina Kimes to clarify that while it’s true that ESPN’s social-media post about Irving’s offer did not mention Hind Rajab’s name, the article linked to the post identified her.