Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert falsely claimed that Texas Rep. Al Green confronted President Donald Trump with a “pimp cane” during his joint address to Congress last week.
Boebert made the controversial remark, which some labeled a racist stereotype, during an appearance on the far-right Real America’s Voice News, painting Green as the villain to the MAGA base while sidestepping her own history of being labeled loud and disruptive.
Despite her past outbursts, Boebert insisted that her actions were not comparable to Green’s.
“And even you had some folks on the left trying to come out early and defend this behavior and compare it to an image of Marjorie Taylor Greene and myself, who were chanting ‘Build the wall’ while all other Republicans were chanting the same phrase,” Boebert said. “And they just got that one image and acted like we completely disrupted the State of the Union. But Al Green was given multiple opportunities to stand down, to sit down, to behave, to show decorum. And he did not.”
During Trump’s March 4 address, the veteran Democrat from Houston interrupted the president, shouting, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” in response to Trump’s claim that he had received a “mandate” from the American people to radically overhaul the federal government.
Wait. Isn’t this the woman who heckled President Biden during a State of the Union speech? https://t.co/TFad7mewHw
— Capitol Media Services
Telling it like it is (@azcapmedia) March 7, 2025
Green, who is Black, stood and confronted Trump from the gallery while pointing his walking cane toward the president. Green was on his own as not another Democrat stood with him in protest.
Despite repeated requests from Speaker Mike Johnson to sit down, the 77-year-old Green refused and was ultimately escorted out of the chamber.
Trump stood awkwardly silent during the brief disruption, but picked up where he left off as soon as Green was given the boot.
During her remarks, Boebert targeted Green by linking him to the pimp cane stereotype.
For Green “to go and shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent,” Boebert said days after the House passed a resolution from Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse to censure Green over his heckling. The move included an effort to strip Green of his House committee assignments.
Pimp canes were a symbol of 1970s underworld culture and later became exaggerated in blaxploitation films — with critics saying Boebert was reinforcing a negative image of Black people with her words.
Green, however, is not the figure Boebert suggested. He is a respected lawyer and former justice of the peace in Harris County, serving as the representative for Texas’s 9th congressional district since 2005.
Despite this, Boebert couldn’t resist taking one last shot at Green for allegedly stepping out of line, yet her criticism overlooked the fact that Green’s protest mirrored, if not exactly matched, the disruptions Boebert herself had made in the past.
Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, both Republicans, have faced criticism in light of the incident involving Green, due to their actions in 2022 when both congresswomen shouted down President Joe Biden from the gallery during his State of the Union address.
However, unlike Green’s, their outburst did not result in their removal, sparking accusations now of a double standard.
Critics also argue that Green’s ejection was a clear display of the administration’s heavy-handed approach to silencing public dissent.
The speech came 44 days into Trump’s second term, following a wave of controversial executive orders, nationwide removal of diversity initiatives, and federal cuts that have sent tens of thousands to the unemployment line.
There was also Trump’s back-and-forth tariff standoff with Mexico and Canada, coupled with his disastrous Oval Office summit with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which had many Democrats, including Green, gearing up for various forms of protest during the speech. However, their efforts ultimately lacked coordination and failed to deliver the punch needed to throw Trump off his game.
Aside from Green, a handful of other Democrats heckled Trump during many of his policy announcements, while a few chose to walk out in silent protest.
Democrats did not clap or stand at any point as Trump laid bare key aspects of his legislative agenda.
Trump then touted the fine job he’d done so far despite facing mounting disapproval, with Republican voters among his loudest critics. Recent polls show more than half the country is dissatisfied with Trump’s performance, particularly as he has yet to fulfill his promise of lowering consumer prices on day one.
The speech also came after House Republicans narrowly passed a budget framework that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in federal spending reductions. However, the looming budget cuts are expected to bring economic hardship to the middle class, triggering job losses in essential public services and straining access to vital resources, health care and social programs, as well as cuts to Medicaid.
Boebert’s blustery behavior and notorious public antics have been widely reported. In 2023, she and her date were kicked out of a performance of “Beetlejuice: The Musical” after she was caught vaping and openly groping him. As security escorted her out, she reportedly snapped, “Do you know who I am?”
Last year, Boebert found herself under criminal investigation in connection with an alleged physical fight with her ex-husband at a restaurant in her district, according to reports citing police in Silt, Colorado.