PHOENIX, Ariz. – Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
When a MAGA-hat-wearing protester at a Tucson City Council meeting on Tuesday night started shouting, waving a sign and recording herself on a phone, a man in a green shirt sitting nearby started laughing.
A lot.
And the Green Shirt Guy meme was born.
People loved it.
“If there was ever a video to describe international reactions to America - #GreenShirtGuy is Canada,” one person tweeted.
“#GreenShirtGuy is the hero we all need and want,” another person tweeted. “Not all heroes wear capes but this hero wears a green shirt.”
The man, it turns out, is Alex Kack.
Who is Alex Kack, aka Green Shirt Guy?
He didn’t return a request for comment.
But he told Mashable, who identified him as a 28-year-old field organizer for Peoples Defense Initiative, “Who has the time in their day to come into a public space just to spread hatred and negativity? Like, honestly what happened that made them so ridiculous and hateful?”
The council had just voted to place a proposal to make Tucson a sanctuary city on the ballot in November, a move required by law since enough signatures had been obtained. But for the woman and a man accompanying her, evidently that was enough.
The #GreenShirtGuy hashtag topped trending topics on Twitter. More than 9 million people had viewed the video of him laughing by Thursday afternoon.
They throw a heck of a City Council meeting in Tucson, sounds like.
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Tucson meeting wasn't 'that unusual'
“That amazing thing about it is, I wouldn’t even say that was even that unusual,” Nick VinZant, an anchor and investigative reporter for KVOA in Tucson who shot the video, said Wednesday.
“Tucson has a vibe to it. That’s just kind of how their public meetings go.”
Indeed, on any other day, Banjo Guy might have been the person at the meeting to go viral. He sang a song during the public-comment section of the meeting, because, evidently, why not?
But the night, and the day after, belonged to Green Shirt Guy.
Although maybe they can tag-team the internet, if Patton Oswalt, the actor and writer, has his way.
He tweeted, to his 4.5 million followers: “#GreenShirtGuy is @Alex_Kack. And I love him. I love you @Alex_Kack. Please promise me you will befriend Banjo Man, walk the earth together, and get into adventures.”
We can only hope.
Follow Bill Goodykoontz on Twitter: @goodyk.
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