‘Green Shirt Guy’ amused, baffled by star status
28 year-old: ‘I was just laughing’
PHOENIX — Alex Kack remained mystified Thursday as to how he became an internet sensation when all he did was laugh at a city council meeting in Arizona.
“Everyone else was doing something far more active than me, honestly. I was just laughing,” Kack told the Associated Press.
His amused reaction to an anti-immigrant protester at a Tucson City Council meeting Tuesday over a proposed “sanctuary city” law has earned him folk hero status on social media. The video clip from KVOA-TV has been viewed 9.5 million times. With no way to identify him, Twitter posters dubbed him “Green Shirt Guy” because of the lime green polo he was sporting.
“#GreenShirtGuy” remained the top Twitter trending topic in the U.S. all day Wednesday. Celebrities like model Chrissy Teigen and comedian Patton Oswalt praised “Green Shirt Guy” for literally laughing in the face of his opponents.
The rapid ascent to online fame has been “surreal” for the 28-year-old field organizer.
“There’s no other way to phrase it,” Kack said. “Patton Oswalt said he loved me twice, once as ‘green shirt guy’ and once by my name.”
He also plans to never part with the shirt.
“Once there are too many holes in it, I’ll put it in a frame somewhere.”
Kack works for a campaign to put a “sanctuary city” initiative on Tucson voters’ November ballot. He was sitting near a woman who he said had been making snide comments throughout the meeting.
In the video, the woman, wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, is seen blasting the measure and then being ushered out with another man by a police officer.