Texas Rep. Al Green was removed from President Trump’s State of the Union in protest

Texas Representative Al Green he was kicked out of the 2026 State of the Union for protesting President Donald TrumpAn AI-generated social media video shared featuring Barack again Michelle Obama.

During a Tuesday, February 24, speech to Congress, Green, 78, held a sign that read, “Black People Are Not Apes!” as Trump, 79, and his colleagues entered the House of Representatives. Green’s protest targeted Trump’s posting and subsequent removal of a 62-second clip that featured Barack, 64, and Michelle, 62, as monkeys in a jungle earlier this month.

Green’s sign, written in black marker outlined against a white background, remained high despite the Great Leader. Steven Scalise trying to get it out of sight.

Several other members of Congress, including a Texan Troy Nehisthey also tried to prevent Green’s sign from being filmed as part of the live TV coverage of the annual event but were unsuccessful as the sign remained visible as Trump entered the arena.

A few minutes later, Green was ushered out of the room to chants of “USA, USA, USA” and applause.

Green told reporters after leaving the State of the Union that he would “do it again” if given the chance. In the X video shared by the C-SPAN network, he said, “As you know, the President portrayed the former President and the Monkey Lady as monkeys. This practice has been declared racist by many people but I don’t think the President got the message that it’s not acceptable. He seems to think he can do these things with impunity.”

Green continued, “Tonight, I wanted someone to confront him and let him know that Black people are not monkeys. That Black people will not tolerate this behavior. I don’t speak for everyone, but I speak for people with a good heart who understand that if you tolerate this type of behavior, you are perpetuating it. I refuse to tolerate this level of hate, in fact, the President puts it in the policy of hate.”

He added that “we have to stand up to this level of senseless racism” and that Green’s motivation led him to deliberately make Trump “know and see.”

Green told the cameras that he believed his mission was successful. “Judging by his speech [Trump’s] face, you got the message, you saw it,” Green thought.

A February 6 CNN article reported that Trump “refused to apologize” for posting the AI ​​video, “blaming the staffer for error.”

Reporting on the press conference that took place on Air Force One, the official plane of the President, Trump said at the time, “I looked at the beginning of it. It was good,” referring to the section that laid out the claims about the alleged fraud in the voting machines. “It was a very strong position in terms of voter fraud. No one knew what was going on. If they were looking, they would have seen it, and maybe had the sense to remove it.”

Trump concluded, “Someone slipped and missed a very small part … I made no mistake.”