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.
Lydia Ellery disclosed that companies are now hesitant to employ her because of her handle and her perceived association with the show, despite the fact she has been known as Squid Game for more than a decade. She mentioned that due to online abuse by fans of the show she is considering changing her name.
“I’ve received a lot of hate from the fans and I’ve been turned down for work because of it [Squid Game]”.
Lydia Ellery
Lydia, who is from London but lives in Bristol, has been on social media platforms like game streaming site Twitch and Instagram as ‘Squid Game’ for 11 years, and as ‘SquidGaming’ on Twitter. She has 42,300 followers on Twitch and is also part of Yogscast, a collective with more than seven million YouTube subscribers.
“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.
“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 Ellery
The Korean TV series, which tells the story of a group of people forced to play deadly children’s games for money, has become a viral sensation.
The Netflix show was watched by 142 million people around the world in its first four weeks, and Lydia has been hit with a wave of attention.
Lydia disclosed that because the show doesn’t have an official Instagram account, she was flooded with people tagging her or sending her messages thinking she was the show.
Lydia said some of the messages have been hateful, which has made her feel stressed.
“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. My phone has been flooded”.
Lydia Ellery
That notwithstanding, Lydia’s accounts have been so popular that she’s been logged out of them several times and been asked to reset her password.
“People were reporting my account and endless people have tried to hack into my account. I keep getting emails from people trying to log in. It’s been really frustrating”.
Lydia Ellery
Lydia said that coupled with the loss of income and association with the TV series, she is considering changing her name, and the brand she’s built up for more than a decade.
“My SEO [search engine optimization] is completely messed up now. If you search for me and my brand which I’ve had for over 10 years, all you get is the TV show. More recently I’ve been turned down for work because of my handle.
“I guess it’s the connotations of the show, it’s a very violent show, maybe it’s that?”
Lydia Ellery
In addition to her live-streaming, Lydia does some presenting and advertising work which has also suffered.
“The companies who were giving me this recent role specifically told me I didn’t get the work because of my Squid Game handle, I feel down about the whole situation and incredibly fed up”.
Lydia Ellery
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