Democratic Congressman Al Green has called on supporters to ‘fight back’ after he was removed from President Trump’s State of the Union address on Monday (February 24).
Trump spoke to lawmakers inside the House of Representatives chamber at the US Capitol for the yearly address, typically delivered in January or February, where the president outlines priorities for the year ahead and points to what the administration views as key accomplishments.
Although the speech included a number of disputed claims, Trump also used the primetime moment to spotlight First Lady Melania Trump and her Amazon Prime Video documentary.
Before the remarks got underway, however, focus shifted to Texas Congressman Al Green. He stood in the chamber’s center aisle holding a sign that read ‘Black people aren’t apes!’
The protest referenced a video Trump reposted on Truth Social earlier this month that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys—content widely condemned as racist.
In the clip, the Obamas were depicted as primates while ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ played over the footage.
The imagery appeared at the end of a longer video repeating unproven election-fraud allegations. When reporters initially pressed the White House on why the president had shared it, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the backlash as ‘fake outrage’.
The White House later said a staffer was responsible, stating the employee had ‘erroneously made the post.’
Obama addressed the repost on an episode of Brian Taylor Cohen’s podcast, saying: “I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling.”
According to the Guardian, Green held onto the hand-written sign as officers escorted him out, while some Republican lawmakers tried to grab the sign or obstruct it from camera view.
As Green was led out, some Republicans in the chamber could be heard chanting “USA! USA!”
Afterward, Green posted on X (formerly Twitter), urging people to ‘stand with me’ and ‘fight back’ by casting their ballots for him on election day on March 3.
Green has represented Texas’s ninth congressional district since 2005.
It also marked the second year in a row he has been removed from a State of the Union. Last year, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered him out after he shouted responses during the president’s remarks.
Stand with me and Fight Back! – https://t.co/FIRIRo4LwU pic.twitter.com/8YTmteHdgI
— Congressman Al Green (@RepAlGreenTX) February 25, 2026
This year’s address was the longest State of the Union speech on record. During it, Trump falsely claimed Biden allowed nearly 12,000 murderers into the country and said he inherited ‘record inflation’ from the prior administration.
Trump also inaccurately said he had locked in ‘$18 trillion’ in investments—labeled by a CNN factcheck as a ‘figure of fiction’—and repeated the claim that foreign nations pay his tariffs, despite tariffs being paid by US importers.
Separately, the BBC noted he did not bring up the ICE protests and deaths in Minnesota, the Epstein files, or his stated interest in taking over Greenland on national security grounds.