An offensive laugh may be a doom spell for the nervous player. Makani Tran, a Pokemon TCG player, was disqualified from the Charlotte Pokemon Regional after he laughed while giving his “preferred pronouns.” A moment of hesitation cost him the match along with $800, two flights and time off school.
In a Twitlonger post, Tran opened up about his struggles in getting terminated before being able to give his opponent Alex Schemanske a tough match.
Based on Tran’s story, a judge asked about his preferred pronouns and he was lost in finding the right words. Tran was stuttering when it came time to answer the judge’s inquiry and he replied: “Um he or him or uh.”
Tran was struggling to think quickly on his feet and he began to laugh as a way to cope with his nerves. The laughter didn’t go unnoticed in the attentive ears of the judge and he later flagged the laughter as an issue in Tran proceeding with the match.
“Okay, just wanted to check to be safe. I go by they/them so don’t be a jerk about it,” the judge said.
Shortly into the match, Tran and Schemanske were told to leave the stage by the head judge and told that another match would be streamed instead.
It was revealed the way in which Tran addressed the pronoun question was inappropriate and he was disqualified for the response. “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,” Tran added.
Alex Schemanske tweeted that it wasn’t right to disqualify Tran due to his laughter. It was an extreme punishment for something the player couldn’t control. Meanwhile, Tran tweeted words of gratitude for the support and love from the audience.
Fortunately for the man with the giggles, there was a Go Fund Me campaign set up to reimburse Tran’s expenses and the donors have assisted in helping exceed the $1,500 goal.