This Trump supporter is playing hardball with the New York Mets.
Aura Moody wants $2 million in damages from the team and Citi Field, claiming she was barred from entering the stadium last month until she took off her “Make America Great Again” hat, according to a Sept. 6 Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit.
The Republican from Saint Albans, Queens, insisted the ban violated her right to free speech and caused her “emotional distress.”
“This country is supposed to be the beacon of freedom for all,” Moody, 64, who is representing herself, told The Post.
She’s accusing the Mets of “racial discrimination and political retaliation” and “reputational harm.”
Moody, a social worker and mother of two, said she and her friend were wearing MAGA hats when they arrived at Citi Field on Aug. 14 for a Mets-Oakland A’s game.
They were with eight other members of the Queens Village Republican Club.
They had just made it past security when a Citi Field staffer told them they were not allowed inside with their Trump gear on, she said.
Moody said she tried to invoke her First Amendment rights multiple times but was told by the staffer that the MAGA cap was “too political” and she needed to take it off.
Moody and her pal — who are both on the board of the club — only agreed to take their hats off because they were worried about inconveniencing the rest of their group, who were already in their seats.
Moody “attempted to de-escalate the situation” and asked if she could put her MAGA hat in her bag, but was told, “No because you can put the hat back on when you get to your seat. You have to take the MAGA hat out of the Stadium,” according to court papers.
Moody “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,” she said in the legal filing.
When Moody asked the security supervisor if she was required to take her MAGA hat outside Citi Field, the supervisor replied, “That’s the policy.”
So the two women were forced to call the friend they carpooled with in order to put the hats back in the vehicle, Moody claimed.
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When Moody “finally arrived at her seat, she observed White persons wearing MAGA hats and MAGA attire” — other members of her group, she said in the litigation.
“A Mets employee was mistaken about our attire policy,” the team initially said.
“We are reaching out to Aura Moody to apologize and invite her back to the ballpark.”
The suit acknowledges that a team rep phoned Moody Aug. 17 and “apologized on behalf of the New York Mets,” and assured her that “there is no such policy against wearing a MAGA hat, and the Staff has been retrained.”
The Mets have no comment on the lawsuit, said Nancy Elder, a team spokeswoman.
Moody told The Post she has not returned to Citi Field since the MAGA hat fiasco and isn’t sure if she ever will.
“It was embarrassing. It was heartbreaking. It was shocking. It was humiliating. So how can I go back? It may take some time,” she said.
