Did Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, say he "celebrated 9/11"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that El-Sayed celebrated 9/11. In an interview in early April 2026, he said, "I don't think 9/11 was justified," and distanced himself from Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer he had appeared with on the campaign trail. Piker said in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11."
The claim appeared in a post and image (archived here) by the @GuntherEagleman account on X on Aug. 5, 2026. It read:
When did we get to the point where we are electing people who celebrated 9/11...?
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @GuntherEagleman on X.)
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports from credible news outlets where El-Sayed publicly said he "celebrated 9/11." The search terms "Abdul El-Sayed," "celebrate" and "9/11" were used.
During an April 7, 2026, appearance (archived here) on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," following a campaign event with Piker the night before, El-Sayed said:
Of course I don't think 9/11 was justified. ... [Just] because you appear with somebody doesn't mean you agree with them on everything.
Piker was widely criticized after saying that "America deserved 9/11" during a 2019 livestream. After facing heavy backlash, Piker said in an August 2019 interview (archived here) that he "obviously" did not mean America deserved the attacks. He accused his critics of ignoring "the actual truth of what I was talking about" and said the viral quote was meant as a criticism of U.S. foreign policy.
El-Sayed is running for the Senate seat against Republican Mike Rogers, who appears to have conflated El-Sayed's words with those of Piker. In a post (archived here) from Rogers' campaign account (@MikeRogersForMI) on X on Aug. 5, 2026, he said:
My statement on Michigan's Democrat Nominee for U.S. Senate:
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @MikeRogersForMI on X.)
In part, Rogers' statement said (circled in yellow above):
I spent years hunting terrorists and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11.
While Piker did say "America deserved 9/11" -- later recanting it -- El-Sayed never said it.
