Validate SQL row result in php

Here is some tested code that i think does what you require.

Change the $eventId variable to test it.

There are some changes:

The query returns the counts of the different 'status'es, makes it easier when testing for failure / acceptance.

It displays the reason why it decided what happens.

Here is the output using your supplied test data:

boolean false
string 'This event is Rejected: 1 : counts: 1' (length=37)
string 'P:\developer\xampp\htdocs\testmysql\index.php' (length=45)

The code:

<?php
   // assume that the STATUS column MUST be one of these values
   define('PENDING',  0);
   define('ACCEPTED', 1);
   define('REJECTED', 2);

   // connect to the database
   $dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=testmysql';
   $username = 'test';
   $password = 'test';
   $options = array(
   PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => 'SET NAMES utf8',
   );
   $db = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password, $options);
   $db->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);


   // testing -- change this id to ensure it works
   $eventId = 2;
   // -------------

   // return the counts for each status - will make it easier to check later
   $sql =  " SELECT ea.status as `status`, COUNT(ea.status) AS status_count "
          ." FROM event_auth AS ea "
          ." WHERE ea.perm = TRUE AND ea.id_event = :eventId "
          ." GROUP BY ea.status "
          ." ORDER BY ea.status DESC ";

   $stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
   $allOk = $stmt->execute(array(':eventId' => $eventId));

   $statusList = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC); // column names only

   // assume that we will NOT accept the event
   $acceptEvent = false;
   $theReason = ''; // why we did what we did ...

   // check the return statuses and counts
   foreach( $statusList as $details ) {
       if (   $details['status'] == REJECTED
           && $details['status_count'] >= 1)  { // will stop the loop
           $theReason = "This event is Rejected: {$eventId} : counts: {$details['status_count']}";
           $acceptEvent = false;
           break;
       }

       if (   $details['status'] == PENDING
            && $details['status_count'] >= 1)  { // will stop the loop
           $theReason = "This event is Pending: {$eventId} : counts: {$details['status_count']}";
           $acceptEvent = false;
           break;
       }

       // this never stops the loop
       if (   $details['status'] == ACCEPTED
           && $details['status_count'] >= 1)  {
           $theReason = "This event is Accepted: {$eventId} : counts: {$details['status_count']}";
           $acceptEvent = true;
       }
   }

   var_dump($acceptEvent, $theReason, __FILE__);