White woman cosplayer has been blasted after winning a cosplay competition that was exclusively for black nerd citizens.
Black nerds everywhere are backlashing after a white woman won a costume competition at Blerdcon this past weekend.
The woman, whose name has not been disclosed, also faced criticisms online. Dressed as Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura, the woman who won has apparently deleted her social media pages after being “bullied” because of her win.
Blerdcon is an annual three-day multi-genre convention held in July at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
The white woman who won the contest apologized through her Twitter account saying that she “should have stepped down sooner and more importantly not entered at all”.
“The judges are the ones who made the decision on who won and I greatly respect all of their opinions and I am so thankful that they thought my cosplay was well made enough to even consider winning,” she wrote.
“That being said it still boils down to I entered a contest as a white woman at Blerdcon,” she continued. “I took an opportunity away from a black cosplayer. It’s as simple as that.”
“I am sorry for invading a space I shouldn’t have and I know I have no one to blame for that mistake but myself,” she added. “I am also sorry to all the people I have hurt in the process. I know no amount of apologies can fix what I have done but I am truly deeply sorry.”
“I am actively in the process of returning the prizes and have stepped down,” she said. “I am sorry for centering myself in a space that was not mine to do so.”
Cosplay fans were reasonably shocked and upset that a white woman won a cosplay costume contest at the event, a convention that had been intended as a safe space for Black people.
Within the social media, several people reiterated that the woman should not have entered the contest at all, let alone won.
“So a white person won the cosplay contest at #Blerdcon,” one person tweeted. “That just doesn’t sit right with me. We can’t even win at our own events.”
“Nah, the problem is she entered the contest in the first place,” a second one said. “As a yt cosplayer, I’m not ok with that. That is not the place for you to try and show.”
“This is very disheartening,” a third person said. “There could have been ways to rectify this issue but damn!!!”
“Like I can’t even really fault the judges for doing their job impartially but the centering of those who aren’t Black or PoC, in a place that exists specifically to do so, is [a] bad look,” a third commenter said.
“The whole con is “about” and supposed to be for black nerds, hence the name,” a fourth one has added. “The entire point for people coming is because it’s a safe space for black nerds to show their talent, but this is the third time a nonblack person won despite the con being less than five years old.”
Though others argued that there was too much focus on the woman being white and she most likely won because she “hand-made” the costume.
“It’s cause the judges were following their own fair rules of critiquing cosplay,” a person explained. “They saw her cosplay was handmade with a lot of work put into it and out shown the competition. So she won fairly.”
One of the judges, Dax ExclamationPoint has addressed the situation in another Twitter thread, suggesting that the convention could “include specific categories within the costume contest more than just a top 3” as well as “potentially including an audience vote/fan favorite portion”.
After the controversy, Blerdcon addressed the issue by sharing a video statement on its Facebook page.
It featured Hilton George, the convention’s founder, who said: “We are an open space, we are not members of a private organization… we don’t turn people away…There will always be people there who are not Black, who are not people of color, in participation.”
The event’s name comes from the word “blerds”, a term for black nerds, and was founded by Hilton George.
Blerdcon aims to be distinct and inclusive.
Blerdcon typically features a cosplay contest, gaming tournaments, maid café, panels, vendors, and workshops. The gaming room is open 24-hours during the event.
The event also creates an arena of concepts where sharing that culture can take place with the proper perspective, designation, and positivity in a broad environment.
Blerdcon’s idea came out of the experience of attending another convention called MomoCon. The first event happened on June 30 – July 2, 2017, and it has higher attendance than expected, with 1,800 attendees.
Blerdcon 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Blerdcon 2021 took place in Arlington, Virginia.
“Blerdcon celebrates our connection with LGBTQ, the disabled, POCs, and the international community!” the website reads. “All are welcome to partake in the experience as we are an open community who love all the same nerddom.”
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