The Brief: "Andy" refers to streamers who appear on live streams on gaming platforms, like Twitch. Andy is a neutral and sometimes negative term. There are different types of Andies.
DEEP DIVE
Andy is a collective term for streamers on gaming platforms, like Twitch. Andy carries a neutral or sometimes negative connotation, as it also refers to individuals who “leech” off of or appear in livestreams.
The term “Andy” traces back to streamer Ice Poseidon’s 2017 IRL Twitch streams. According to Know Your Meme, sketch comedian Andy Milonakis who appeared often in Ice Poseidon’s streams. When another streamer named Andy Martin began to appear in Ice Poseidon’s streams, he was called “Mexican Andy.” This then led to Ice Poseidon and his audience referring to people who appear on or “leech” off of livestreams as an Andy.
According to Creatoko.com, anyone can be an Andy; what matters is the type of Andy.
The earliest variation is said to be “Sitting Andy,” which traces back to a June 2017 Urban Dictionary definition. It defines “Sitting Andy” as Milonakis.
React Andy refers to individuals who react to other people’s content.
A quick random stats thingy, Top 10 "Andy" spam (exact message, case-insensitive) for the past 12 days
"React andy" beating just "Andy" and @andymilonakis 's bot spam😅* Gonna do top channels (React Andy) combo/variations next 😛 pic.twitter.com/KwAj2L9boY
— Random Twitch stats! (DeTheBug) (@TwitchStuff) May 25, 2020