Popular streamer Valkyrae doesn’t agree with viewers saying she looks like Pokimane, arguing that they only get these comparisons because they’re in the same field.
Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter is one of the most prominent female streamers on the net. But because of this, she feels that she often gets compared to another big name in the space: Pokimane.
Valkyrae brought up these comparisons during an October 17 YouTube stream after a fan wrote on her subreddit: “Why does she look like Pokimane?”
“Dude, I am Asian!” she exclaimed. “I’m a German-Filipino girl with wavy hair. I think Poki actually has curly hair. This is my natural hair, okay? I don’t think Poki and I look alike. I do take it as a compliment, because she is so beautiful — but it is baffling to me.
“I think it’s truly just because we’re both streamers that people are like, ‘Oh, you guys look alike.’ Poki’s not even Asian, she’s Moroccan. I don’t see it. I think if I was in a different field, or if she were in a different field, we would never be compared, but I think these kids assume that we look alike because we’re both streamers.”
Despite taking issue with the comparisons, Valkyrae continued to assert that she felt it was a major compliment. However, fans have a different opinion, with one writing on YouTube: “Twins… I think Rae is gaslighting.”
“There are definitely ‘vague similarities’ with the two of them,” another said. “[It’s] like one of those things in certain photos side by side, if you squint your eyes a little bit you can see it.”
This isn’t the first time Rae has taken issue with people comparing her to other female streamers; in August, she hit back at a viewer saying “she thinks she’s Jodi” because she dyed her hair purple.
“It’s weird dyeing my hair, and being compared to other women because I dye my hair. I feel like a lot of women have hair. …It’s like, what am I supposed to do?”
Valkyrae has made it clear that she’s willing to push back against critical comments, most recently clapping back at an online troll who said she was “expired” for dressing up like a “schoolgirl” at 32 years old.