WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was escorted out of the House chamber after holding a sign reading “Black people aren’t apes!” during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Green said he wanted to force attention on a racist video Trump shared — and later removed — that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as primates, Feb. 24, 2026.
Al Green’s sign protest inside the House chamber
Al Green stood near the front of the chamber and held the sign up as Trump entered, drawing immediate pushback from nearby Republicans. Al Green stayed silent as the speech began, but he was removed from the floor in the opening minutes, according to The Washington Post’s account of the incident.
As he was escorted away, Green could be seen exchanging words with Republicans who tried to block the sign from cameras. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, later told the Post, “I simply told him it was shameful.”
Al Green calls the Obama video “deplorable” and “racist”
Afterward, Al Green said the sign was a direct response to the video Trump posted earlier this month. In an interview, Green said depicting “President Obama and First Lady Obama” as primates was “not only unacceptable,” adding that “it is something that is deplorable,” according to a Reuters interview with Al Green at the Capitol.
Green, who has represented a Houston-area district since 2005, said the confrontation was worth any fallout. “The consequences are subservient to what happened,” he said.
What Trump said about the Truth Social post
The video at the center of the dispute circulated on Trump’s Truth Social feed in early February and was taken down about 12 hours later as criticism mounted. Reuters reported the clip mixed election conspiracy claims with a brief, apparently AI-generated segment that placed the Obamas’ faces on dancing primates, in its reporting on the deleted Truth Social post.
Trump condemned the imagery but refused to apologize, saying he had not watched the entire video before it was shared. “I didn’t see the whole thing,” he said, according to ABC News’ report on Trump’s comments after the post was deleted. The White House said the clip was posted by a staffer and later removed.
Al Green and Democrats split between decorum and confrontation
Green’s protest came despite a push by Democratic leaders to avoid turning the speech into a spectacle. In the days leading up to the address, House Democrats privately warned members against bringing signs into the chamber, and asked colleagues to either stay silent or skip the event, according to a CNN Wire report published by ABC7.
Al Green said he was not trying to defy party leadership. Still, he argued that ignoring racist imagery only helps it spread. “If you tolerate it, you perpetuate it,” Green said in comments after he was removed.
Older controversies show why the “ape” imagery hits a nerve
While Al Green focused his protest on Trump’s post, comparisons of Black Americans to apes have long been used as a racist slur — and similar controversies surfaced during Obama’s presidency. In 2009, a New York Post cartoon touched off a national debate after critics said it appeared to liken Barack Obama to a chimpanzee, as detailed in a Reuters report from that time.
In 2016, the issue flared again after a West Virginia mayor resigned amid backlash for approving a social media comment describing Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels,” according to The Washington Post’s coverage of the resignation.
Al Green’s earlier clashes in Congress
Tuesday’s removal was the second year in a row Al Green has been forced out during a televised Trump address. In March 2025, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered Green removed during Trump’s speech to Congress for repeatedly shouting and refusing to sit, Reuters reported at the time.
Days later, the Republican-controlled House voted to censure Al Green over the disruption — a rare form of formal condemnation — in a move that drew support from a small number of Democrats, according to a separate Reuters report on the censure vote.
For now, it is unclear whether House leaders will pursue further discipline over Tuesday’s sign protest. Al Green, however, has signaled he does not regret the moment, arguing that calling out racist imagery in public view is part of his job.
