In the United States, a story related to the collectible card game Pokémon generated political controversy in the country. It is no wonder, since the controversy touched on an issue that is quite sensitive in society.
In March 2023, a 17-year-old boy claims he was disqualified by the “head judge” of a tournament. Pokémon TGC because he laughed nervously when asked about his preferred pronouns. Apparently, the referee interpreted this as an affront towards transgender people. However, the player maintains that he simply couldn’t remember the third pronoun and laughed out of embarrassment.
Disqualified for “mocking” pronouns
The story spread through X (formerly Twitter), garnering almost 400,000 views. On the platform, 17-year-old Makani Tran posted photos of a trip he was planning. He would participate in the “Regional Championships” of the Pokémon card game. These were held in Charlotte, and Tran came from Utah, almost 4 hours of flight, a considerable distance.
For the player, this was very important: he missed school, he booked 2 flights, he had to stay in a hotel, spent about a thousand dollars and participated in this great tournament, which was also broadcast live. He was excited and nervous, as he describes it.
Things went wrong when Tran was asked about his pronouns. She couldn’t remember the third pronoun and she let out a small laugh. The player states that the tournament was going very well for him up to that point, having won the first 5 rounds and having a 5-0 record. He then faced a particularly strong player, the 22-year-old Alex Schemanske. The 17-year-old was informed that his match would be selected to be shown on the live broadcast.
On the way to the table, a referee asked him about his preferred pronouns and how he wanted the commentators to talk about him on the live broadcast. However, Tran couldn’t respond immediately. He said he stammered: “Uhm, el o le o uhm...”.
The young man states who simply couldn’t remember the pronoun “le” at the time. He stood there, staring, not knowing what to do, and felt terribly embarrassed for not remembering the third pronoun the referee wanted to hear. He explained that, due to nerves and stress, he let out a “little laugh”. Her response was something like: “Uhm, he or him or haha, him.”
When the referee asked his opponent for his pronouns, he responded “He and him.” In response, the 17-year-old blurted out, “Uh, yeah, him and him – haha.”
The referee told him that he preferred the pronouns “They/Them”, a gender-neutral variant, and He asked him not to be an idiot about it.. According to Tran, the referee did not seem angry or upset when he said it:
“To clarify, I’ve never had a problem with pronouns. of people or how they choose to identify themselves, and I will never have them, because in the end, it is their decision and it does not affect my life. “If people are happy with it, I’m happy too.”
The head judge disqualified him for violating the inclusion rules, says the young man from Utah: initially, he didn’t think much about it and was able to play normally. However, he realized that there was agitation among the referees; They were standing together, apparently discussing an incident. After the confrontation, a referee approached him and asked him specifically about the incident: what pronouns had he provided? In what tone had he spoken? Tran says he answered all the questions politely and calmly, although he was a little confused about what was happening.
The online community showed its support
So They asked him to leave the stage and was questioned separately by the chief judge. The referee initially seemed sympathetic, but then explained that the 17-year-old would be disqualified from the tournament for violating the “inclusion rules.” The head referee told him that he was also sorry for the situation and that he was unfortunate, but that he had violated Pokémon policy.
It was all a misunderstanding
Makani Tran’s story caused a stir on social networks, with the Pokémon community uniting in a campaign to raise money and help recover the money that the young man spent on the trip. Posteriorly, Nintendo ruled on the case, giving him the benefit of the doubt and stating that they would investigate the matter carefully.
Currently, Makani continues to participate in tournaments
However, little else was known about the results of this investigation. What is known is that Makani Tran was not currently denied participation in more tournaments. Pokémon JCC, where he currently continues to compete and be active in his social networks.
2023-12-18 22:49:02
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