Teen who laughed when asked for 'preferred pronouns' booted from Pokmon card tournament

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TND) — A teenager who plays the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) at a high competitive level was reportedly disqualified from a tournament after he laughed when an official asked for his pronouns.

Makani Tran was out $800, a couple of flights and missed school time after he offended a nonbinary Pokémon TCG judge, cutting his tournament run prematurely short "for a bizarre reason," according to Dexerto.

The teenager says in a Twitlonger post that he never meant to offend anyone and was close to tears when he was disqualified.

The Charlotte-based tournament was livestreaming the TCG matches online, and when Tran approached the livestreaming booth for his match, he says he was stopped by a judge who asked for his "preferred pronouns."

Tran says that he was set to face off against one of the United States' best Pokémon TCG players, Alex Schemanske, and nerves had him laughing "awkwardly."

On our way over to the stream area the judge asked us for our preferred pronouns," Tran says. "I said 'Um he or him or uh' and I paused trying to think of the third pronoun (the third pronoun being his). As I just stood there looking stupid trying to think of the third pronoun I felt embarrassed because I was failing to think of a simple word. "Due to the nerves and me being embarrassed I let out a little laugh just a normal nervous laugh. My response together ended up being 'Um he or him or uhhhh haha his,'" Tran adds. "That’s it. That’s all I said."

After reaching the stream area, Tran says that he and Schemanske again were asked for their preferred pronouns, and again Tran says he laughed nervously when answering.

Tran then says in his Twitlonger post that he has "ZERO issue with peoples pronouns and how they choose to identify and express themselves." Tran adds that he has "NEVER had issues with it and NEVER will because at the end of the day it’s their choice and it doesn’t affect my life. As long as people are happy I’m happy."

However, the judge who was asking for Tran's preferred pronouns took offense to the laughter, according to the young Pokémon TCG player.

Okay just wanted to check to be safe," Tran says the judge told him. "I go by they/them so don’t be a jerk about it," the judge allegedly added.

Tran says that, at the time, he didn't think much of the judge's comment and headed off to play against Schemanske. After playing game one of his series against Schemanske, Tran says judges approached the two players. The final moments of one clipped video of the stream show that both Tran and Schemanske were left confused by the judge's interruption of their match.

Tran says that the judges first talked with Schemanske before talking with him, but because he had headphones on, he could not hear them. The judges then asked Tran through the headset how he had answered the pronoun question. Tran says that he told them what he said and added that he laughed awkwardly.

After some more talking, Tran says that the head judge pulled out the tournament's rulebook on his phone and told the young TCG player that he was disqualified for "violating their inclusive policy," as he had made someone feel "unsafe and uncomfortable."

I was disqualified from the event. I was just in disbelief," Tran says. "I remember saying 'Wait what?' I was so confused I had just explained very calmly what had happened and he seemed that he was listening. At this point I’m at the verge of tears but I tried my best to keep my composure," Tran adds. "I just couldn’t understand what was happening."

Tran says that he asked the tournament officials if he could appeal the disqualification, but they refused.

I have NEVER been treated so unbelievably unfairly and had such an opportunity just taken from me. For something I didn’t even do," Tran says. "The judge said that while he believed that I had no bad intentions, it didn’t matter because at the end of the day, someone was offended and upset."

The young Pokémon TCG player also says that the judges told him the disqualification meant he had to leave the venue.

This was an issue, Tran says, as his parents were not with him and his guardians were in the tournament. Tran adds that he also had no service in which to contact anyone by phone, and also did not have a key to his hotel room, which he would have to walk to anyways.

Following Tran's Twitlonger post, several people online were upset at tournament organizers over the disqualification. Some even suggested that officials lose their jobs over the call.

Schemanske also chimed in with his own tweet, saying that he didn't think Tran should have been disqualified, but has since made his Twitter account private.

This is probably a dangerous tweet for me. Should Makani have been DQ’d? I don’t think so. But remember y’all, this isn’t an excuse to attack inclusivity/people’s identity. Also remember that judges are, by the rules, completely unable to share their side of things," Schemanske said in his tweet, according to Dexerto.

Friends of Tran also set up a GoFundMe account to help him recoup costs from his trip that ended up with him disqualified. The GoFundMe had an original goal of $1,500, but has since eclipsed over $5,500 as of the time of this article's writing.

When the GoFundMe first passed its fundraising goal, Tran thanked all of his supporters in a tweet.

i am actually at a loss for words i don’t even know what to say right now," Tran said. "Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart this means the world to me i’m so grateful for all the support i’ve received and i’m just amazed. Love all you guys and again thank you for everything."One more thing, do not use what happened at charlotte as an excuse to bully and harass the trans community." Yran added in a follow-up tweet. "That sh*t is not okay and I do not condone this behavior at all. That’s all I had to say and again thank you for all the support i’m so happy right now."

Tran also publicly pushed back against allegations that it was his "bad manners" (his "BMing" of his opponent) that got him disqualified from the tournament. After it was alleged that Tran fabricated the interaction with the judge, Tran wrote that he couldn't "believe" that "people have the audacity to just make sh*t up about what happened."

The young player has enjoyed a few cash-winning victories by playing the Pokémon TCG competitively. According to LimitlessTCG.com, Tran has placed in the top five at least twice at tournaments and has taken at least $2,500 home in winnings.

The National Desk has reached out to both The Pokémon Company and the Charlotte tournament's organizers, Overload Events, for comment.

TND has not yet received a response from either. This article will be updated with that information if provided.

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