Twitch streamer Lydia Ellery says her online handle’s resemblance to the Netflix hit series, Squid Game, has caused her to lose work.
Ellery, who has used the online handle SquidGame for over a decade, also said she has been subjected to abuse as a result of the show.
“I’ve received a lot of hate from the fans and I’ve been turned down for work because of it,” she told the BBC. “For me it was just a silly name I thought up on the spot. My friends called me squid because it rhymes with lid, and my name is Lydia.”
“Because the show doesn’t have an official Instagram account, I was flooded with people tagging me or sending me messages thinking I was the show,” she explained.
Some of the messages Ellery received turned hateful and she adds that there have been countless attempts to hack into her account.
Looks like I might have to change my handle after all. I’ve lost 2 amazing presenting opportunities because people don’t want to hire me with my “squid game” handle. This is really getting me down now.
— Lydia (@SquidGaming) November 2, 2021
“I started getting abusive messages from people. People were getting angry with me because they were mega fans… and thought I took the account from the show. I had to turn off notifications on my Instagram because it was just constant.”
“If you search for me and my brand which I’ve had for over 10 years… all you get is the TV show.,” she added, “More recently I’ve been turned down for work because of my handle. I guess it’s the connections of the show – it’s a very violent show, maybe it’s that?”
“The companies who were giving me this recent role specifically told me I didn’t get the work because of my Squid Game handle.”
Ellery boasts over 44,000 followers on Twitch. She is also part of a creative collective called the Yogscast, with 919,000 Twitch followers and over 7 million YouTube subscribers.
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