Pion Kim, with her outstanding cosplay costumes, has won her the adoration of thousands of gamers, makeup artists, and costume designers alike. Spanning from characters such as Harley Quinn and games like Dungeon Fighter Online, she is known for her diversity of choice and artistic expression.
cosplayheaven69: Cosplayer: Pion Kim. Country: South Korea. Photos by: Giro.... https://t.co/fZpWf0pHD5
— Rocky (@Rock2951) December 31, 2016
Unfortunately for Kim, a recent costume decision has her known as another thing to the community: offensive.
Kim, who recently cosplayed as Overwatch's newest playable character Sombra, has some people crying foul because she used makeup to alter her light skin tone to appear "browner" to closely resemble the Mexican hacker.
Considered by some to be "brown face", an offshoot of "black face" in which white actors and actresses painted their face black in order to portray black people in degrading, racist, and negatively stereotypical ways, Kim has found herself in hot water.
Korean #cosplayer Pion Kim gets backlash for dressing up as Sombra, #overwatch's Mexican character https://t.co/GzWjSuiRze #cosplay pic.twitter.com/WpgcFCzkiq
— Nerd Reactor (@NerdReactor) January 16, 2017
Kim, a South Korean native, says she was completely unaware of any controversy regarding darkening ones skin for costume. This is understandable; in a world with billions of people spread out throughout six different continents, there's naturally going to be a lack of understanding of other cultures histories and experiences.
light skinned ppl doing "blackface" is unacceptable. but korean cosplayer pion kim darkened her skin for sobra(OW)+mexicans said it was fine
— lasaqna (@lasaqnaa) January 15, 2017
Still, not all is going poorly for Kim. There's been a ton of support from her fans, and some people of Mexican descent have come to their defense to express not anguish, but satisfaction in her portrayal of Sombra.
This has also gotten her increased attention, and you know what they say about publicity; positive or negative, it's always a good thing.
Photo Credit: Overwatch Facebook page