Rep. Al Green ejected from Trump State of the Union over anti-racist sign

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was ejected from the 2026 State of the Union within two minutes of Trump's speech for holding a sign reading "Black People Aren't Apes," protesting a Truth Social video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as cartoon apes. Speaker Mike Johnson directed the Sergeant at Arms to remove Green under House Rule XVII; the White House deleted the video after 12 hours and blamed a staffer, but Trump refused to apologize. Green drew on the civil rights tradition of accepting removal as deliberate moral witness against racist rhetoric from the presidency.