The Arizona Cardinals are taking heat for forcing a season ticket holder to throw away her MAGA hat to get into State Farm Stadium last weekend.
Susan Rosener, who has owned season tickets for 34 years, told KPNX-TV that on Sunday, stadium security flagged her down and told her she could not enter the facility with her “Make America Great Again” hat.
Rosener said the security officials told her that political gear is not allowed in the stadium.
The long-time fan said she asked the security worker why the hat was prohibited.
“She’s like, ‘no political hats or shirts.’ And I said I haven’t heard that at all. And I said that doesn’t make sense to me. And she goes, ‘I said, Take your hat off,'” Rosener told the station.
The security official asserted that Rosener could enter the stadium if she threw the hat in the garbage. And so, she did just that, though she has since regretted the choice.
“In retrospect, I wish I would have stood my ground a little bit, but I wasn’t sure what the repercussions would be, and my husband would kill me if I did something with the season tickets or that jeopardizes them somehow,” Rosener explained.
“I am super freedom of speech,” Rosener added. “I could care less if someone had a Kamala Harris hat or T-shirt on. I do feel like part of the problem was this security woman definitely had a bias with my hat.”
However, since Rosener went to the media with her story, the Arizona Cardinals and State Farm Stadium Stadium officials have stated that the security workers “misunderstood a policy on prohibited items.”
The team has released a statement explaining the error:
In an isolated incident at Sunday’s game, a stadium security member misunderstood a policy on prohibited items. Like most venues, signage, posters, flags, or displays that are….political in nature’ are not permitted. However, that did not apply in this instance. Moving forward we will work to provide clarity to all stadium personnel in these situations. We have also reached out to the individual involved to communicate that their experience was not consistent with our policies and practices and to apologize for that.
Many on social media were aghast over the issue.
One X user pointed out that Mike Bidwell, the owner of the Cardinals, is a huge GOP donor:
Another called for the security officials to be fired:
A third X user decried the loss of free speech in America today:
A fourth even called for a “MAGA Hat Night” to be held at the stadium:
Many others were just as incensed:
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