A judge from the state of Texas claimed she was manhandled while attending a concert held at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, after staffers working the event wouldn’t let her into the VIP area and ultimately escorted her out of the venue. The judge later speculated that she could have been the victim of racism or sexism, despite already receiving $9,000 in freebies.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo stated that she and five other guests with her — another elected official, the official’s kids, and the parents of a U.S. Air Force sergeant who recently passed away — attended a Megan Moroney concert at the show on March 10, 2026. But, according to her account of the incident, the group was prohibited from accessing the venue’s premium area, known as “the dirt.”
The reason for the denial of entry is was because of the group not paying the $425 per head ticket price for wristbands. The rodeo also revealed the concert was sold out. Hidalgo then claimed she had been previously granted access to the area without a wristband due to the “county’s relationship with the rodeo.” She then said she had assumed the area was “friends of rodeo leaders or for rodeo leaders or such.”
According to Fox News, the judge asked if her guests could be allowed into the area, but she was grabbed, shoved, and then threatened with arrest. “I understand the rodeo committee members have a job to do,” Hidalgo said in a blistering letter addressed to rodeo board Chairwoman Pat Phillips and rodeo President Chris Boleman.
“They are trying to keep thousands of people safe at the largest rodeo in the world. I did not want to prevent the committee members from doing their jobs, nor was I trying to take advantage of ‘privileges’ or call in favors. I was not even interested in seeing the concert. I was only interested in helping community members enjoy an important event,” Hidalgo continued in the letter.
Officials for the rodeo said that Hidalgo asked several times if she could return to the county suite where she was previously seated. The event staff then asked the judge to leave and she was escorted out of the venue. “There were numerous law enforcement officers who were present and none saw any physical harm, including ‘manhandling,’” Phillips and Boleman wrote in a joint letter addressing the situation. “Ultimately, when she would not go back to her designated seats in the suite, she was escorted out.”
"*" indicates required fields
Rodeo officials stated that Hidalgo had previously requested and received $9,000 in floor access tickets for herself and her guests for three previous nights of concerts that included performances by J. Balvin, Dwight Yoakam, and Luke Bryan. “We are very disappointed in Judge Hidalgo’s actions Tuesday night and since,” the letter from Phillips and Boleman continued.
“But we must enforce the same access policies for everyone. The Judge is the only elected official to request, even demand, these seats night after night. As Chairwoman of the Board, the idea that she was treated this way because she’s a woman or Hispanic is absolutely false and insulting,” they added. In a letter from Hidalgo to Phillips and Boleman sent on March 11, the judge said she has “never accepted anything inappropriately or used my role to personally enrich myself even though many others have.”
The judge then questioned whether the treatment she received at the hands of event staff would have been different if she were a male county executive, before going on to bring the subject of race into things by claiming that white men have “felt emboldened to treat others, particularly Hispanics, with physical force.” She then added, “I don’t travel without my passport anymore. Many of us do, especially those of us who are not white-passing.”
Hidalgo posted several videos on her Facebook and Instagram showing her leaving the concert venue from her vantage point, along with audio recordings of the staff. “This is not about a wristband or a ticket or a concert,” she claimed. “It is about the mentality of some people and the way they treat others. If this is how they treat me — by virtue of my position the Ex-Officio Director of the rodeo, landlord, because NRG stadium belongs to Harris County and leases to the rodeo, how do they treat everybody else?”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video