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The Internet is known for many things, but it is not generally a place where you can believe everything you see. When anyone, anywhere can choose any online handle they want, the potential for people impersonating famous people is always there. It can allow people to, at best, spread false information and, at worst, exploit fans, which is why most communities, like Reddit, take measures to stop this kind of behavior. However, they don’t always get it right – just ask Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez, who got banned from the Alien subreddit for impersonating… himself.

Alvarez, to his credit, seemed to find the whole situation amusing after he posted a screenshot of the notice banning him from r/LV426, which covers the Alien franchise. “Got banned from the ALIEN subreddit for apparently trying to impersonate, myself,” he said. The notice said that he had been permanently banned from the group due to them thinking he was an imposter. It is worth noting that this happened on August 20, 2024, as Alien: Romulus was sitting atop the US box office after massively outperforming expectations.

There is a happy ending, though. A moderator for the LV426 subreddit spotted the error, which came about because someone had reported Alvarez’s account as an imposter and the moderator jumped into action a bit too quickly. The moderator posted in the subreddit later the same day saying “Fede of course was immediately reinstated and had a very friendly conversation with us. Awesome guy.”

At least now if you spot the username “fedalvar” lurking in the Alien subreddit, you know that they’re a legit source. 

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