This is a rebuttal to an article by Gateway Pundit:

Outrageous! Man Kicked Out of MLS Soccer Match in St. Louis for Wearing MAGA Hat Even After Pointing Out a Glaring Hypocrisy – DOJ Now Reportedly Investigating .

FACT CHECK: There is no official statement (from DOJ or MLS) confirming any broader probe, civil rights charge, or legal claim.

To some, the removal of a fan from a St. Louis City SC match for wearing a MAGA hat looks like ideological hypocrisy. After all, rainbow flags were flying freely—why allow one form of expression but not the other?

The answer lies in understanding what kind of speech is being regulated, and why.

Major League Soccer, like most private organizations, has the right to limit overtly partisan political messaging at its events. A “Make America Great Again” hat isn’t just apparel—it’s a campaign slogan directly tied to a political candidate. The league’s fan conduct policy prohibits endorsements of political figures, and that applies equally to “Biden 2024” shirts or any other party-branded messaging. The goal isn’t censorship, but to maintain a space free from campaign-style provocation that could disrupt the communal nature of the game.

By contrast, LGBTQ+ flags are not promoting a candidate or a party. They are symbols of identity, not of electioneering. Their presence reflects a league-wide commitment to inclusion and safety for fans and players who belong to historically marginalized communities. Supporting the dignity of LGBTQ+ individuals is not the same as advocating for a vote.

To call this distinction hypocrisy misses a core principle of speech in shared spaces. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote that the First Amendment does not protect the right to shout “fire” in a crowded theater. The point wasn’t that speech should be suppressed—but that context and consequences matter. In a stadium filled with thousands of people, speech that could inflame, divide, or escalate tension leading to violence.

Not all expressions are equal in impact—or in risk.

A MAGA hat, in today’s deeply polarized environment, can function as a political flashpoint, intentionally or not. A rainbow flag, for many, is simply a reminder that they are welcome. MLS is not pretending to be apolitical—it is choosing which messages foster community, and which threaten to fracture it.

That’s not hypocrisy. That’s stewardship.