The Arizona Cardinals have apologized to a woman who was asked to remove her “Make America Great Again” hat to enter State Farm Stadium for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams.
The team confirmed in a statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday that they had reached out to the woman.
“In an isolated incident at Sunday's game, stadium security misunderstood our policy regarding prohibited items. As with most venues, 'signs, posters, flags or displays of a political nature' are not permitted, however this was not the case. We will endeavour to provide clarity to all stadium personnel in future situations like this, and have reached out to those involved to let them know their experience was not in line with our policies and practices and have offered our apologies,” the statement read.
The woman, who is from Arizona and has Cardinals season tickets, is named Susan Rosener. According to multiple reports, she and her husband were on their way to their seats to watch the Cardinals beat the Rams 41-10 when a stadium staff member mistakenly asked her to remove her hat, which bore former President Trump's famous campaign slogan.
“You can't bring that in here,” the staffer said, Rosner reported. News 12 Phoenix.
“She said, 'No political hats or shirts,' and I said, 'I didn't hear that,' and I said, 'I don't understand,' and she said, 'I said take your hat off,'” Rosner said. “In retrospect, I wish I had stood my ground a little longer, but I didn't know what the repercussions would be and I thought my husband might kill me if I did anything with my season tickets or jeopardized my season tickets.”
The incident was initially made public in a post on X by Turning Point Action's local director, Vice President Alyssa Gonzalez, who also posted screenshots of text messages she appeared to have exchanged with other attendees who had been forced to remove their MAGA hats or had witnessed others being forced to remove them.
“We have only heard from one individual, but if there were several others who had similar interactions, it also should not have happened. Again, this is not our practice and has apparently never happened before in over 18 years of playing in this stadium. However, going forward, we will work with all third-party entities that interact with our fans to make sure this is made fully clear,” the team said in a separate statement to Fox News Digital in response to the other allegations.
The Cardinals have a list of items that are prohibited for entry into State Farm Stadium on game days, including “political hats and shirts.” Not on that list.
Sunday's incident is not the first time that attendees of American sporting events carrying pro-Trump merchandise have faced orders from security guards.
In the spring and summer of 2021, a man was ejected from the stands at MLB games at Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Citizens Bank Park while holding a banner that read “Trump Won! Save America!” Dion Chini, A current conservative political influencer from X posted multiple instances of body camera footage of the police escort exiting the stadium.
On June 27 of that year, Sini posted an image on X (then known as Twitter) of a purported letter from MLB informing him that he would be banned from playing in MLB games until further notice.
Cini commented on the recent incident involving Rosener in an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“That's the country we have right now. The fact that she did it, and got it canned, is exactly why they asked her to do it, because they knew she would probably comply. And that basically sums up the entire state of America right now,” Sini said. “You'd have to kill me to take off my MAGA hat without being forced to! I've never taken my MAGA hat off for anybody.”
Arizona is considered one of the “Sun Belt” battleground states in the upcoming election, after Trump won it in 2016 but lost it in 2020.
a Fox News Election Poll According to a poll released on August 28, Vice President Harris is currently leading the former president by less than one percentage point.
In the Arizona Senate race, Democrat Ruben Gallego is leading Republican Kali Lake 56% to 41%. In the Nevada Senate race, Democrat Jacky Rosen is leading Republican Sam Brown 55% to 41%. In the North Carolina gubernatorial race, Democrat Josh Stein is leading Republican Mark Robinson 54% to 43%.
In response to the Rosner incident, Lake called on all Cardinals fans to wear MAGA hats to the team's home games for the remainder of the season.
“every [Cardinals] “America-loving fans should wear MAGA hats to every Arizona Cardinals game this season,” Lake wrote in an X post in response to an article about the incident.
Meanwhile, fears are circulating in the state during the current election that illegal immigrants may be able to vote in the upcoming election.
