The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) has allegedly suspended a Pokémon TCG player who shared their story of being harassed and misgendered at a recent event.
According to an Oct. 2 post on X (formerly Twitter), Pokémon TCG player Ihana Mazezka was suspended by TPCi after they spoke out about alleged harassment they had experienced at Baltimore Regionals (which took from from Sept. 14 to 15). In Mazezka’s original Sept. 18 post recounting the incident, they claimed one of their opponents, Steven Lahlou, had repeatedly misgendered them after the head judge corrected him multiple times. And according to Mazezka’s partner, Lanlou continued “mocking the pronoun part of the situation” with his friend group at the event.
Mazezka did state that the head judge and tournament organizer apologized, submitted support tickets, and escorted Lahlou to counseling. Still, the TCG player believed Lahlou walked away “with just a slap on the wrist” when others have received harsher penalties in the past, flagging an instance where one player was “immediately dq’d for allegedly joking about pronouns.”
Because of how everything went down, Mazezka called for staff members to be more educated on how to handle these types of incidents “so more of [the] community doesn’t experience what [they] had to endure.”
Fast forward to Oct. 2, and Mazezka was allegedly suspended by TPCi for sharing that story, leaving Pokémon fans baffled and outraged by the decision. After all, it doesn’t sit right for someone to be punished for speaking up about a bad experience at an event. These stories can make a positive impact by bringing attention to issues that TPCi and the community can learn and grow from. But Mazezka’s suspension feels like a huge setback.
“They are now banning people for standing up for themselves and not just accepting harassment. Vile,” one community member commented. “It’s a very dark time to be LGBTQ+ or marginalized in this community if we can’t speak out without fearing a ban,” another comment stated. Mazezka has declined to comment further on the matter, only saying they’re “genuinely afraid” to say anything more—and that’s not how the Pokémon community should feel.
A player allegedly being punished for calling for change is reminiscent of when top South Korean players were banned for their Metronome protest during the 2023 Pokémon Trainers Cup. They fought for changes in their circuit in a creative and peaceful manner and were punished for it. Naturally, their bans silenced and discouraged others from speaking out—similar to this situation with Mazezka’s suspension.
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