Overview
- CBS published a report on Monday that ran a headline tying Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El‑Sayed to Sept. 11 and flagged two now‑deleted 2020 social‑media posts.
- In the posts cited by CBS, El‑Sayed compared the nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11 to the mounting COVID‑19 death toll and urged a public‑health response like the post‑9/11 mobilization.
- Progressive politicians and commentators immediately denounced the headline as racist and Islamophobic and social media preserved the original headline while CBS later revised it.
- Some CBS staffers and journalists publicly criticized the story’s promotion as bigoted while conservative commentators defended the report and framed it as relevant to El‑Sayed’s past remarks.
- The controversy has raised fresh questions about CBS leadership and ownership and poses a political risk for El‑Sayed as he heads into the general election against Republican Mike Rogers.