Representative Al Green held up a black-and-white sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes” during Donald Trump‘s State of the Union address. The Texas Democrat used his cane for support while displaying the message before being escorted from the chamber.
Al Green interrupts Donald Trump’s SOTU with protest sign
The protest referenced a video Donald Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on February 5. It showed former US President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama with their faces superimposed on dancing ape characters. The clip, set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” appeared at the end of a longer post pushing unsubstantiated 2020 election fraud claims.
Speaking with NBC News after his removal, Al Green explained his motivation for interrupting Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. “If you tolerate this level of racism, you perpetuate it, and I refuse to tolerate it. I don’t want to see it normalized, and that’s why I flashed this to the president,” he explained.
Green emphasized his determination to directly confront Trump over the incident. “There will be no question, this is where I stand. He needs to know that there are some people who have the courage to tell him things that he doesn’t want to hear and that nobody else would tell him. And on some issues it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all,” he added.
When initially contacted by People about the video on February 6, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the criticism. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” she stated. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Leavitt added. The post was later deleted following widespread backlash, including from Republican lawmakers.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One that same day, Donald Trump declined to apologize when asked directly. “No, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.
