YouTuber Shirley Curry, who is known as “Skyrim Grandma” to her loyal fans, had to take to Twitter this week to chastise disingenuous journalists for using one of her videos to craft a political narrative against gamers.
Curry, an 84-year-old grandmother affectionately known as Skyrim grandma for her Skyrim-related gaming videos, uploaded a vlog-style video to her YouTube channel, which has over 800,000 subscribers. In the video, Curry explained that she would not be uploading as much content due to stress and health concerns.
The joy of frequent YouTube streams had diminished over time, Curry explained, and she noted that she has more fun playing Skyrim by herself than being constantly in front of an audience. She also noted that she would be deleting patronizing comments telling her how to play the game, since she has been playing Skyrim for years and is very familiar with all the mechanics.
Several weeks after the video was posted, it was discovered by several left-wing “gaming journalism” outlets and spun to create an anti-gamer narrative portraying the gaming community as toxic, evil, and ageist.
VG247 ran the headline “YouTuber Skyrim Grandma announces she is scaling back streams for the sake of her health after receiving onslaught of patronizing comments,” while Kotaku penned an article titled, “Skyrim Grandma Is Taking A Break Because Of Internet Assholes.”
VICE had – predictably – the most uninformed take on the situation, as their subtitle read, “Her frustration is familiar to anyone who has been a woman doing anything for an audience on the internet.” The VICE article then descended into a tale of self-woe regarding the author’s personal struggle against bigotry as a female games journalist.
There was just one problem with the dogpile against the gaming community from the corporate media: according to Curry herself, the articles were completely inaccurate.
“VG247 I don’t know who you are or where you get your ideas from, but there was NO ‘onslaught’ of patronizing comments!!! But yes I am scaling back my videos due to health. Most people on my channel are very nice. I do wish you would delete this so it would go away,” Curry replied on Twitter to the VG247 article.
VG247 I don't know who you are or where you get your ideas from, but there was NO "onslaught" of patronizing comments!!! But yes I am scaling back my videos due to health. Most people on my channel are very nice. I do wish you would delete this so it would go away.
— ShirleyScurry (@ShirleyScurry) May 26, 2020
Curry continued to chastise game journalists for uninformed reporting, stressing that the articles greatly exaggerated the point of her video.
I'm OK Danny. Someone greatly exaggerated this and now it is getting completely out of hand. 🤨
— ShirleyScurry (@ShirleyScurry) May 26, 2020
They just exaggerated. But I am cutting back on how much I upload videos. 🙂
— ShirleyScurry (@ShirleyScurry) May 26, 2020
Thank you, very much!
— ShirleyScurry (@ShirleyScurry) May 26, 2020
Many users called on VG247 to delete the article, and mocked the outlet for many saw as a blatant clickbait operation.
Mock on!!!! LOL
— ShirleyScurry (@ShirleyScurry) May 26, 2020
The VICE, Kotaku, and VG247 articles are still up on their respective websites at the time of this story’s publication.
Curry’s full video, in which she proudly declares that she is a gamer, can be watched below.
