Rep. Al Green ejected from State of the Union for protesting racist rhetoric

Rep. Al Green was ejected from the 2026 State of the Union within two minutes for holding a sign reading 'Black People Aren't Apes' protesting a Trump Truth Social video depicting the Obamas as cartoon apes

Trump's Truth Social account posted the racist video on February 6, 2026; the White House deleted it after 12 hours and blamed a staffer, but Trump refused to apologize

Green was censured 224-198 in March 2025 for disrupting Trump's first joint address to Congress, making him the 28th House member censured in U.S. history

Speaker Johnson directed the Sergeant at Arms to remove Green under House Rule XVII, which governs decorum; Johnson told reporters he 'came about this close' to also ejecting Reps. Omar and Tlaib

Green invoked the civil rights tradition of accepting punishment as moral witness, similar to how protesters accepted arrest during the 1960s direct-action campaigns