LONDON: The Free Press has corrected an opinion video that falsely described Abdul El-Sayed’s election victory speech as having been delivered in Arabic, The Independent has reported.

The digital news outlet published the video on X on Wednesday, a day after Michigan’s senator-elect won his Senate race during a Democratic electoral sweep that delivered the party control of both chambers of Congress.

In the video, Free Press reporter and host Maya Sulkin criticized Democratic candidates for incorporating languages other than English into their election-night remarks.

She included a clip from El-Sayed’s victory celebration in Detroit in which the epidemiologist and son of Egyptian immigrants spoke predominantly in English but used several Arabic expressions.

El-Sayed told supporters that throughout his campaign he had frequently said “inshallah,” meaning “God willing,” but that the election result meant this could now become “alhamdulillah,” or “praise be to God.”

Despite the limited use of Arabic, Sulkin described the remarks as a victory speech delivered in Arabic. She also noted that El-Sayed had referred to Vice President J.D. Vance as “habibi” and pronounced his full name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — in Arabic.

The video attracted more than 1 million views and subsequently received a community note on X challenging Sulkin’s description.

The note said El-Sayed had used only four Arabic words, excluding the pronunciation of his name, accounting for 0.27 percent of the words in his speech.

The Free Press issued its correction on Friday, two days after publishing the video.

The outlet acknowledged that its description was inaccurate, saying El-Sayed had used a few Arabic expressions but that “the majority of his speech was in English.” It added that it regretted the error.

El-Sayed, who is set to become the first Muslim US senator, defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan. His victory came amid strong support for Democratic candidates in congressional, state and local contests.

The Free Press was established by Bari Weiss, who was appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News after Paramount Skydance acquired her publication in 2025 for a reported $150 million.

The Independent said Weiss has faced criticism from some CBS employees who accuse her of seeking to shift the network’s coverage in favor of the Trump administration and Israel.

Weiss has rejected accusations of improper editorial interference, arguing that making decisions about news coverage is an essential responsibility of an editor-in-chief.

The correction followed a separate controversy involving coverage of El-Sayed’s election-night event by another Free Press journalist.

Staff writer Olivia Reingold posted a photograph from a Michigan Democratic Party celebration attended by El-Sayed and highlighted designer accessories she said were worn by guests, including Valentino shoes and a Chanel handbag.

The post appeared intended to contrast displays of wealth at the event with the Democratic Party’s progressive politics.

Vanity Fair subsequently reported that the photograph appeared to have been altered using artificial intelligence.

Reingold later acknowledged using ChatGPT to brighten and sharpen the image, although she did not respond directly to Vanity Fair’s request for comment, according to The Independent.

Sean Fischer, chief of staff at The Free Press, defended Reingold in a post on X following the report.