Twitch streamer Lydia Ellery, who has worked with the username Squid Game for the last 11 years, says she has lost “amazing presenting opportunities” and faced abuse due to her handle pre-dating the Netflix show Squid Game.
Ellery – who has streamed with the name Squid Game on Twitch for 11 years – has revealed that she is considering changing her handle, due to issues she has received because of the new popularity of Netflix show Squid game.
Taking to Twitter yesterday (November 2), Ellery said she has lost “two amazing presenting opportunities because people don’t want to hire me with my ‘Squid Game’ handle”.
Elaborating, Ellery added “first I get sent abuse, then I get banned, now I’m losing out on work”.
Speaking to the BBC, Ellery said “the companies who were giving me this recent role specifically told me I didn’t get the work because of my Squid Game handle”.
Due to Netflix’s Squid Game lacking an official Instagram account, Ellery told the BBC she was “flooded with people tagging me or sending me messages thinking I was the show”.
First I get sent abuse, then I get banned, now I'm losing out on work.
— 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.”
Unfortunately, Ellery has also been the subject of repeated attempts to hack her account, with “endless people” trying to gain access.
Due to the popularity of the TV show Squid Game, Ellery has said that she thinks she’s going to have to change her name, despite building the brand for over ten years, due to the income she is losing because of it. On Twitter, Ellery said the situation is “really getting me down”.
NME has reached out to Ellery for comment.
In other news, Blizzard’s player count has not changed despite months of lawsuits, high-profile departures and alleged misconduct. On the other hand, co-leader Jen Oneal is leaving Blizzard after just two months in the role, and both Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 have been delayed.
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