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White woman sparks outrage as she wins Black nerd cosplay contest: 'Wtf is the point of #Blerdcon?'

'All I wanna know is how y’all let this win the BLERDCON cosplay competition,' a Twitter user angrily asked after a White woman won it

A recently held event celebrating Black nerds has received controversy after a White woman won it. The woman, whose name has not been disclosed, also faced criticisms online. The costume contest reportedly took place at Blerdcon in Arlington, Virginia.

The woman dressed to the contest as Sakura from ‘Cardcaptor Sakura’. However, after facing backlash, she reportedly deleted all her social media accounts except Twitter, where she apologized for her action. Several users questioned why, in the first place, a White person was allowed to participate and win an event meant for Blacks.

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A user tweeted, “All I wanna know is how y’all let this win the BLERDCON cosplay competition. This is a Yt woman who attended BLERDCON and decided to compete against some great black cosplayers…. they all had way better Cosplays.” Another one wrote, “Saddest part of all this Blerdcon contest discourse is seeing black cosplayers feeling discouraged and dropping cosplay plans completely on the feed.” “The yt person probably felt like this after they won the cosplay contest at blerdcon,” the third user added while attaching a meme. Another said: "wtf is the point of #Blerdcon if y'all let yt people win".

In response to the slamming, the woman — who identifies herself as Knight @ princess dress sewing [username: @knightshade94] on Twitter — wrote: “I need to address the Blerdcon situation. First I want to apologize for not doing so sooner and appearing to avoid the situation. I was/am dealing with a family emergency and I was also waiting to hear back from Blerdcon themselves about their own statement.”

In a series of tweets, she continued, “I am actively in the process of returning the prizes and have stepped down. I am sorry for centering myself in a space that was not mine to do so. There have been plenty of people who have said I should have read the room and not entered despite my friends encouraging me to do so. And they are 100% right. I am a grown adult and should have thought about how my participation could take away from another cosplayer who is black who might be over looked in other spaces. I will be honest my intention was never to enter and win anything. Believe me seeing the other cosplays during prejudging I did not genuinely think I stood a chance against any of them. All I had hoped to gain by entering was notes on how to improve my own construction techniques.”

“And yes, I recognize  I 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. That being said it still boils down to I entered a contest as a white woman at Blerdcon. 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. 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,” she added.

What is Blerdcon?

Blerd is reportedly a combination of two words — Black and nerds. Blerdcon is an “event that highlights and celebrates Blerd culture and creates a marketplace of ideas where sharing that culture can take place with proper context, attribution and positivity in an inclusive environment,” its website states.

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.”