Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed defended his past controversial comments about Fourth of July fireworks during a radio appearance Monday.
While appearing on “The Breakfast Club,” El-Sayed was asked by host Charlamagne tha God about his previous support for defunding the police and criticism of firework celebrations on Independence Day. El-Sayed pushed back against the criticism.
“They’re coming at me on fireworks,” El-Sayed said. “I’m like, ‘All right, first, if your whole conception of America is that it’s fireworks, I’m so sorry. You don’t have a complete conception of America. But even then, right, like what is it?'”
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He continued: “I said, ‘Well, every time we do a fireworks show, it destroys the air quality and people have asthma exacerbations and heart attacks the next day.’ That’s all I was saying. You know what I mean? I’m not saying we shouldn’t have fireworks. I’m just saying maybe like there are other ways to show your love.”
El-Sayed’s comments follow a CNN report earlier this month that revealed that El-Sayed deleted or hid approximately 100 YouTube videos before launching his Senate campaign. Among them included a plea that Americans “please” find another way to celebrate the Fourth of July besides using fireworks, citing air quality and the risks to children and pets as reasons.
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The video allegedly included four reasons “why fireworks suck” and a chapter titled “Fireworks just aren’t worth it: hear us out.”
While appearing on “Hannity” earlier this month, Republican nominee Mike Rogers called out El-Sayed for his deleted posts and comments.
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“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. “These are views that he held, that he was pretty strong about, but he knew that he had to delete them all… If people really knew who he was, they wouldn’t vote for him.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
