Ros Atkins is a fairly well-known personality for the BBC with almost 350,000 followers on X, but there’s one thing that he most certainly isn’t: The general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ros took to social media to drive that point home on Sunday after having received messages intended for Ross Atkins, the MLB team’s actual GM.
“I’m pretty keen on baseball — but I feel I should say that I’m definitely not the man to respond to all the tweets being directed to me about Blue Jays,” Ros posted on Sunday. “I think it’s Ross Atkins who you’re after…”
The BBC news analysis editor and host also shared a screenshot of a post from a Jays fan complaining that the team should’ve acquired Reid Detmers, who recently had a stellar outing, from the Angels instead of Jose Soriano.
Fans who are hoping to catch the attention of the team’s GM will have to do so without going through social media, however.
Atkins doesn’t appear to have an official account on X or Instagram, with only a few parody accounts garnering his name and likeness.
Are there other examples of this on social media?
Ros Atkins isn’t the first person to be tagged in a post on social media meant for an athlete, celebrity or public — and he won’t be the last, either.
When Australian golfer Adam Scott won the Masters in 2013, Adam Scott the actor saw his notifications flooded with congratulatory messages.
While the golfer does have an official account on the social media site (@AdamScott), the Severance actor (@mradamscott) received so many messages that he had to share a post informing golf fans that they had the wrong Adam Scott.
Jon Jones, who works as a video game developer, has often been confused for the former UFC champion of the same name. Having the handle @jonjones likely causes the confusion while the retired heavyweight incorporates his nickname ‘Bones’ into his handle @JonnyBones.
What about parody accounts?
Of course, similar mix-ups happen all the time on social media. Many users can be a bit too quick while typing out a post and select the wrong spelling
Other users and brands deliberately attempt to imitate the intended user, like parody accounts such as NBA Centel. The X account has been mistaken for legitimate news aggregator NBA Central on many occasions by unaware users, leading to confusion.
One account that NBA Centel frequently cites is @SharmsCharania, a play on the name of ESPN’s top NBA insider Shams Charania.