A devoted fan was booted from a St. Louis City Soccer Club match July 26 for nothing more than wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, in a video that has since gone viral and may have stirred the U.S. Department of Justice.
A calm and even sympathetic Michael Weitzel videoed himself being escorted from the match at Energizer Park by security guards, one of whom confessed to being a Trump supporter but being obliged to enforce the stadium’s rules against “political banners, flags, images, and signs,” as the New York Post put it.
“A man got kicked out of a @stlCITYsc game last night for wearing a MAGA hat,” Gregg Keller, a local conservative public affairs strategist, wrote in a post of the video. “Security said they don’t allow political paraphernalia. Man then asked security what’s up with the constant pride flags and trans banners at the games. They didn’t like that either.”
Keller tells The Heartlander the federal government has taken notice.
“Conversations are taking place today with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington to begin to determine if STL City violated Mr. Weitzel’s civil rights by discriminating inappropriately against his 1st Amendment rights,” Keller wrote The Heartlander Monday. “Meantime, we’ve seen no apology from City for their behavior.”
“He’s now reluctant to return to Energizer Stadium,” the Post wrote of Weitzel, “even after purchasing three years’ worth of tickets to support the St. Louis team.”
Weitzel was understanding toward the security officers for just doing their jobs, pointing to the Trump-supporting officer and saying, “he gets it. He’s just following the rules. It’s not his fault.”
But Weitzel noted he was threatened with arrest before being “evicted” from the stadium.
“I am being evicted from the premises because of Donald Trump,” Weitzel says in the video, “because we can’t wear Donald Trump hats in public. Now I am being evicted from the premises. Trump is not welcome at St. Louis City SC club. Trump is not welcome here.”
“I didn’t think there’d be any issue with wearing that to the game, but with about 25 minutes left in the game, I was basically told they’d received a complaint about my hat,” Weitzel told KFTK’s “The Marc Cox Morning Show” according to the Post.
“They told me I could either hide the hat or take it out to my car or leave. I’m not gonna take my hat off for anybody. I live in America, which is the land of the free and the home of the brave, I thought. So you do what you have to do.”
The incident made international news and caught the attention of Missouri U.S. Rep. Bob Onder.
“So in St. Louis this year,” Onder posted on X, “there were 66 murders, 67 kidnapping[s], 28 rapes, and 1,335 aggravated assaults. But there were four security personnel here to forcibly evict a peaceful soccer fan wearing a MAGA hat. Is the message that you do not want us in the city of St. Louis?”
Keller noted political messaging allowed in the stadium that’s actually sanctioned by the Major League Soccer team, and blasted the hypocrisy.
“The way @stlCITYsc gets out of this is simple: be consistent in your policy going forward. If political paraphernalia can’t be on your premises, apply it equally. No MAGA hats? Fine: no explosion of LGBTQIA*2S+ stuff sanctioned everywhere. No “Black National Anthem.” NO BLM flags. Just be fair,” he posted on X.
Onder reposted a 2022 St. Louis City Soccer Club X post with LGBTQ images saying “Soccer is for everyone. That’s why our club is committed to providing the most inclusive matchday experience in MLS.”
“Soccer is for everyone,” Onder quoted the soccer club. “Except the guy with the MAGA hat. And the other 77 million of you who voted for Donald Trump.”
