Twitch streamer Sydeon hits back at rampant cosplay hate claiming she’s “not white enough”

After sharing images of a recent Hinatsuru cosplay from hit anime, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Twitch sensation Sydney ‘Sydeon’ Parker has hit back at racist backlash.

Twitch star and cosplayer extraordinaire, Sydeon, rose to prominence in 2021, taking the world by storm with her stunning recreations of some of pop culture’s most famous faces, as well as a booming streaming career.

Joining OfflineTV in 2021 (the home of behemoths such as Jeremy ‘DisguisedToast’ Wang and Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys), she continues to grow from strength to strength, churning out spectacular cosplays of characters like Genshin Impact’s Mona and many more.

Unfortunately, her Afro-Swedish heritage has placed a target on her back with internet trolls, and following backlash to her cosplay of Kimetsu no Yaiba’s Hinatsuru, Sydeon has tackled the comments head-on.

Sydeon calls out “rampant” racism in cosplay

Following the release of her Hinatsuru outfit, the cosplay star has been inundated with racist remarks targeting the fact that Hinatsuru is Asian, not African-American. Sydeon is of West African and Swedish descent.

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“Cosplaying while black,” she states in a March 11 tweet, attaching images of several different comments about the look.

“I have feared cosplaying anime characters forever because I didn’t wanna deal with this,” she continues. “This sh*t is RAMPANT in the community and it’s lame as f**k. My favorite is when people say ‘you’re not white enough’ WHEN THE CHARACTERS ARE LITERALLY ASIAN. Just say you hate dark skin people and catch this block.”

Amid the waves of fans supporting her are some of OfflineTV’s most famous faces. “It’s a special kind of patheticness to try and hide their racism behind the veil of protecting fictional anime character’s from being cosplayed by people of all races, as if the character’s entire identity is based around the color of their skin,” wrote DisguisedToast.

This was quickly echoed by QuarterJade, arguing that it is the whole point of cosplay – to portray any character the creator chooses.

Sydeon is not the only woman of color to speak out about racism in the cosplay scene. Summer ‘Summerdru’ Corbin has also opened up about the hateful side of the community, and her struggles as a PoC artist.

Despite the hate, though, these women are here to cosplay and slay the game as whichever character they choose.