A black woman has accused the New York Mets of ‘racial discrimination and political retaliation’ after launching legal action over claims she was refused entry to a game because she was wearing a MAGA hat.
Aura Moody, a board member of the Queens Village Republican Club, is demanding $2million in damages after allegedly being stopped from entering Citi Field until she took off the cap back in August.
She told DailyMail.com at the time that she and a friend, Taisha, were halted by staff as soon as they passed through security, and were told they ‘had to remove’ the hats and return to the parking lot before they could enter.
But Moody, 64, claims that when she got inside the stadium after taking the hat back to her car, there were white members of her group still wearing MAGA hats and other items of clothing.
The social worker, who is a mother of two, was at the game with eight other members of the Queens Village Republican Club, situated in deep-blue New York City, which claims to be America’s oldest Republican club.
Aura Moody, a board member of the Queens Village Republican Club, was allegedly barred from entering Citi Field in August because she was wearing a MAGA hat
Aura, seen at Citi Field, accused the Mets of ‘racial discrimination and political retaliation’
‘I told them, I have First Amendment rights!’ Moody said. ‘They told me it was political, I said you cannot do that!’
According to the New York Post, Moody filed a lawsuit earlier this month in Brooklyn Federal Court.
She has accused the baseball club of ‘racial discrimination, political retaliation and reputational harm’.
Moody added that the incident violated her right to freedom of speech and led to ’emotional distress’.
‘This country is supposed to be the beacon of freedom for all,’ she said.
Court documents show Moody offered to remove the hat and put it in her bag but security dismissed the idea because she could have put it on when she got inside.
Moody claims she ‘knew she was being racially targeted and politically retaliated against for being a black woman wearing a MAGA hat’. After demanding to speak to a security supervisor, she was told it was the club’s ‘policy’.
In a Facebook post relating to the incident, a friend of Moody’s said he was stunned by the decision, and shared it to social media.
‘Folks, I honestly don’t give a s*** if you despite Donald Trump, that is NOT what this is about!’ the post read.
‘Is this the America you want to live in?’
Moody, pictured with former Republican nominee for Mayor of New York City Curtis Sliwa, was allegedly barred from the stadium because her hat was too ‘political’
Moody claims white members of her group were allowed to wear MAGA hats and other items
Viewers reacted with outrage after Moody’s alleged expulsion from Citi Field after it was shared by journalist Miranda Devine, with one questioning: ‘Do they send people back to their car if they have on a (Kamala) Harris shirt?’
Others branded the move ‘ridiculous’ and urged Moody, who has not been back to Citi Field since, to explore whether her rights were violated.
Moody has previously made a name for herself around New York’s political scene, including leading a march through the streets of Manhattan to protest the COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the Facebook post on the incident, Moody was a teacher in New York who lost her job after she refused to get the vaccine.
In footage shared to X, she was seen marching with a small group of anti-vaccine protestors last year, as she raged against the ‘unconstitutional COVID vaccine mandates.’
Moody’s group also appeared to be involved in rallying Trump supporters earlier in the year when the former president held an unprecedented event in the Bronx.
Mets spokeswoman Nancy Elder told the Post they have no comment on the lawsuit.
