Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo says she was ‘kicked out’ of Houston Rodeo concert and ‘manhandled’
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo He was asked to leave Tuesday evening after being denied entry to the Houston Rodeo. He went to a concert at NRG Stadium, according to a post he made on Facebook that has since been deleted.
Hidalgo said she and a group of guests, including two children, were “battered” after they were barred from attending a sold-out Megan Moroney concert at NRG Stadium.
A representative from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo said in a prepared statement that the area Hidalgo was trying to access was limited to “parachute seat ticket holders only” and that the price for premium seating was $425. A rodeo spokesman said Hidalgo and his group were “directed back to their ticketed seating” after being denied access to the “contaminated area.”
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE JUDGE: Who is Lina Hidalgo? What to know about a Harris County judge
But Hidalgo said in a lengthy Facebook post that he was “kicked out” from the stadium.
“Before I could speak to the warden, the men physically pushed me and threatened to arrest me,” the district judge wrote. “They asked me to leave the district stadium and I left my guests to watch the concert elsewhere.”
Hidalgo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Harris County, which owns NRG Stadium, leases it annually to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. High-ranking district officials and their guests have regular free access to organized shows. NRG through a county-owned suite at the stadium. Hidalgo, for example, was among those who received free access to a Beyoncé concert in late June.
Hidalgo said Tuesday’s incident occurred because she was a woman and that it may have been politically motivated.
“Look, in a country this divided, maybe these guys just don’t agree with my politics. They had a chance to change this at the ballot box twice and they lost,” Hidalgo wrote. “If there had been a different county executive, I bet no one would have been pushed, the rodeo director and rodeo security chief wouldn’t have been assigned to keep the county leader out, and everything would have been fine.”
He concluded his term with a call for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to provide information on how much it charged previous county judges for concert access.
This article was first published at: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo says she was ‘kicked out’ and ‘battered’ from Houston Rodeo concert.
