MAGA House Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) suggested that a colleague in the House who walks with a mobility aid does not actually need it, days after she was accused of racism for saying he was “shaking his pimp cane.”
Rep. Al Green (D-TX), 77, was the subject of national attention last week after he heckled President Donald Trump during his address to Congress, which Green said was to stand up “for those who need Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.”
Green, who uses a cane and held it in the air as he gestured toward the president, was drowned out by an ovation from Republicans and removed from the chamber.
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Two days later, the House voted in favor of a GOP move to censure him, with 10 Democrats lending their support.
During an appearance on the far-right network Real America’s Voice, Boebert blasted Green’s protest with charged language.
“For him to shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent,” she said. Critics immediately called the remark racist and ableist.
On Tuesday, Boebert doubled down after House Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) introduced a motion to censure the Colorado Republican over her remark, adding an allegation that Green doesn’t need his mobility aid.
“I have never actually seen Al Green use his cane as a support to walk,” she said, in a follow-up appearance on Real America’s Voice. “I have seen him shake it for years all throughout the Capitol during any meeting that I’ve ever been present with him in.”
Video filmed as recently as last week shows Green does use the cane to help with mobility as he navigates the halls of Congress.
The congresswoman insisted her previous attack was an accurate characterization: “If that gold-plated cane isn’t a pimp cane, I don’t know what is.”
Boebert is no stranger to heckling or ejections. In 2022, she repeatedly interrupted former President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, earning rebukes from members of her own party.
A year later, in 2023, Boebert was ejected from a Denver theater for “causing a disturbance” that included vaping, dancing, singing, and groping her date during a performance of the Beetlejuice musical.
She initially denied any inappropriate behavior and only apologized after surveillance video surfaced showing that she also gave the middle finger to ushers as they escorted her out of the venue.
