Korean Cosplay Star Pion Kim In ‘Offensive’ Makeup Controversy
Cosplayer Pion Kim is apparently hearing from the social justice cohort that the use of makeup in a character portrayal is offensive or racist.
For those unfamiliar with this subculture, cosplay, or costume play, is form of role-playing performance art in which people dress up as fictional characters from anime, comic books, or video games and so forth. As you can imagine, cosplay is a popular feature at comic book conventions, as well as gaming and anime gatherings.
According to Heat Street, which describes the situation as a witch hunt, Seoul, Korea-based Kim found herself in the controversy with implications of political correctness after portraying the action character of the popular Overwatch video game and uploading photos of herself in full regalia.
“Professional Korean cosplayer Pion Kim is known for her astoundingly realistic costumes. Her Sombra outfit, the latest Latina hero on the video game Overwatch, was lauded as one of her best yet….Everything was looking great until the PC police showed up to ruin everything. Some social justice warriors accused Kim of ‘brownface’ for using a subtle bronzer to darken her skin, and conducted what amounted to a witch hunt against her. Many in the Mexican community stood up for Kim, alleging that ‘gringos’ were getting offended on their behalf and saying they didn’t care if people cosplay as a Mexican character.”
Pion Kim also cut her hair for the Sombra ensemble and donated it to a children’s cancer foundation where they will use it make wigs, Kotaku detailed.
In a lengthy Facebook post, in which she notes that her English is a work in progress, Pion Kim apologized for inadvertently causing any offense. She also seemed to suggest that she will no longer cosplay as Sombra, or ever use makeup to darker her skin tone, which she had evidently done once before while cosplaying an elf from Dungeon Fighter.
“Some people mentioned me about my SOMBRA COSPLAY is rude and offensive because of skin color make up. At first, I’m Korean cosplayer and i never heard of that before – BROWN FACE make up is OFFENSIVE thing. When i heard about that is after uploading Sombra cosplay Photos….so yes, i cosplayed Sombra with skin color make up. Because i love that character’s every thing, and Sombra’s everything is awesome…If it is not intention to offensive, but some people who has a trauma feels offensive- i have to apologize. I’m so so sorry for that people who has a trauma….”
Read the entire Facebook post to get the full context of Pion Kim’s response to the PC controversy.
Check out Pion Kim´s epic Sombra "Overwatch" cosplay :3 https://t.co/WJjOxgo5YH #Sombra #Overwatch #cosplay #gaming #GamersUnite
— The Gaming Ground ? (TGG – thegg.net) (@TheGamingGround) December 26, 2016
As of this writing, the Facebook post has prompted 411 comments, many of which are supportive of Pion Kim, and that acknowledge that the cosplayer is just paying tribute to the character and urged Pion Kim to ignore the detractors.
For example, one commenter wrote that “I’m Mexican, i have a ‘dark skin tone’. And I think that Sombra cosplay was amazing. She did an amazing job. I mean, if you want to cosplay an ‘Avatar character’ you OBVIOUSLY will paint your skin BLUE, she did the same with Sombra.”
Another user on Pion Kim’s Facebook page asserted that “I am Mexican and I am in no way, shape or form offended by this. I think you did an amazing cosplay and I hope you continue to do whatever character you have a passion for. Ignore the people who try to shame or hate you, you did nothing wrong.”
If you are a cosplay fan, are you offended by the Pion Kim makeup as Sombra from Overwatch?
[Featured Image By Ed Samuel/Shutterstock]
