A Trump fan in a $2 million lawsuit filed against the New York Mets claims she suffered “reputational harm” and was also subjected to “racial discrimination and political retaliation” after she was made to remove her “Make America Great Again” hat before being allowed entry into the Citi Field stadium to watch one of their games.
According to the New York Post, the lawsuit was filed by Aura Moody in the Brooklyn Federal Court on September 6. Moody in the lawsuit claimed that she was initially prevented from entering the City Field stadium because she was wearing a MAGA hat. The stadium is also named as a defendant in her suit.
Moody claimed she suffered “emotional distress” as the ban went against her right to free speech. “This country is supposed to be the beacon of freedom for all,” the 64-year-old told the news outlet.
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The incident is said to have occurred during the Mets’ August 14 game against the Oakland Athletics. Moody said she and another friend came to the stadium wearing MAGA hats, adding that they were in the company of eight fellow Queens Village Republican Club members.
She said she and her friend were informed they would not be allowed inside if they continued wearing the hats. She further stated that though she repeatedly attempted to invoke her First Amendment rights, she was informed the MAGA hat was “too political” and she would only be allowed inside if she took it off.
Moody said she and her friend ultimately decided to take the hats off because they did not want to bother their other club members as they were already in the stadium and had taken their seats.
The suit claims that when Moody “attempted to de-escalate the situation” by offering to take her MAGA hat off and putting it in her bag, she was told that was not possible because “you can put the hat back on when you get to your seat,” per the New York Post. “You have to take the MAGA hat out of the Stadium,” the suit adds.
The 64-year-old in the suit also claims that she “knew she was being racially targeted and politically retaliated against for being a Black woman wearing a MAGA hat, so she requested to speak to a supervisor.”
Moody also said when she spoke with the security supervisor regarding not being allowed to enter the stadium with her MAGA hat, the supervisor told her that was the “policy.” She added that they were made to put their hats in the car of their friend who drove them to the stadium.
Moody in the suit also claimed that when she finally entered the stadium and “finally arrived at her seat, she observed White persons wearing MAGA hats and MAGA attire.”
The baseball team previously said that a “Mets employee was mistaken about our attire policy.” “We are reaching out to Aura Moody to apologize and invite her back to the ballpark,” the team said.
The suit also states that Moody was eventually called by a team representative who “apologized on behalf of the New York Mets” and made her know that “there is no such policy against wearing a MAGA hat, and the Staff has been retrained.”
Moody told the news outlet that she has since not gone back to the stadium. She also said she can’t tell if she would ultimately return to Citi Field.
“It was embarrassing. It was heartbreaking. It was shocking. It was humiliating. So how can I go back? It may take some time,” she stated.
