Dr Disrespect's Journey Has Been Anything But Simple

He's the only doctor in the world who's a hazard to your health — and no one's got more confirmed kills than he does. His name is Dr Disrespect, and if you didn't know it yet, you'd better get familiar. 

The most ruthless villain in the gaming community, the Doc is a popular Twitch streamer known for his elite skills with a keyboard and mouse. He's a stone-cold shooter who's gained followers and won awards on his way to becoming one of the most popular streamers of all time. Rocking a mullet, sunglasses, and a bulletproof vest, the Doc is the height of arrogance, a top-tier gamer, and to legions of fans, an example to live up to — which you can either find inspirational or terrifying.

While the two-time Blockbuster video game champion ('93 and '94) has always been a solid gamer, the Doctor has put years of work went into making his success a reality. But who is Dr Disrespect really? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the man behind the most ruthless mustache in all of gaming.

While Dr Disrespect didn't start becoming a sensation until late in 2016, his first appearance dates back to 2010 — and his roots go back even further. The character is the creation of Guy Beahm, who first came up with the name while playing "Halo 2."

"I didn't have an idea for how he would look, or even making YouTube videos," Beahm said in a 2011 documentary, filmed when he was notable but before he was truly famous. According to Beahm, the name of the character came from his Xbox Live gamertag, which was previously the slightly-less catchy Diarrhea Panic. While he didn't know it at the time, it was a fateful decision.

The idea of making the gamertag a character didn't exist immediately. "There weren't really any expectations of making a Doctor character come alive," Beahm said. Instead, his first goal was to simply start recording his own gameplay, inspired by the recognition other gamers were receiving for recording commentary over their gaming sessions. He began to produce his own spin on it, and the Doctor made his first steps into reality.

"[I] recorded a whole bunch of crappy clips, put them together in this montage form, and recorded my voice over them," Beahm said. "[I used] one of the voices I generally just have fun with and use on Xbox Live, and created this sort of unique video — this intense, unique, villain type of character."

The next step in creating the Doctor was bringing the man to face to face with the real world. With his voice already in his arsenal, Beahm set out to give the character the turn in the spotlight he deserved, which meant schlepping out to find a costume.

"I went to the costume store, [and] did not really have any intentions or expectations of getting something specific," Beahm said. "I just knew that there had to be a look to him. And he had to have a mustache." He found the mustache, mullet and sunglasses in one trip, and began putting the basic personality of the character together with his friends later that night.

Of course, the character would evolve from these humble beginnings. That mustache? It would soon become a poisonous Ethiopian caterpillar by the name of Slick Daddy which once fell on the Doctor's face and never left. That's just one example of the kind of character that Doc would become. As fans know well by now, the Doctor would ultimately end up as a paragon of hypermasculine confidence, backing up his boasts by claiming to be a 6'8" athlete with a 37-inch vertical leap — two claims which happen to actually be true. Not only can Beahm really do a 360-degree dunk, he doesn't need to inject steroids into his legs like the Doctor does in order to make it happen.

After establishing the persona, Beahm slowly started making a name for himself in the burgeoning online streaming scene, setting up his own channel on YouTube in 2010. He produced early videos for the "Call of Duty" and "Halo" series while networking with other prominent streamers to score guest commentary spots. Eventually, he started to attract attention on what was then among the more prominent gaming websites, G4TV.com.  

According to Beahm himself, the Doc took on a much more serious and dark tone in these early years, growling grimly like Batman and taking gaming dead seriously. True to his name, he was not met with much respect on his arrival; he had to fight for that, earning the admiration of his enemies one headshot at a time.

The consistent content production on Beahm's end led in 2011 to a contract with Machinima, giving him a much bigger platform to distribute his videos. And while many viewers were still confused or turned off by the Doc's gimmick, Beahm found many fans among the employees of Machinima, which led to further opportunities with the company. This first success was but a sign of bigger things to come.

In 2011, Beahm's extensive experience with cleaning up in multiplayer deathmatches led to a professional opportunity as a community manager for a "Call of Duty" developer, Sledgehammer Games. 

"When I first heard about the Sledgehammer Games position, at that time I was temporarily working at Stanford University, and I didn't really know where I wanted to go," Beahm said. "I just know I've always wanted to get into the video game industry."

Based on his experiences growing his social media profile, Beahm decided to try applying for the position, and got the job in March 2011. A year later, despite his initial nervousness about lacking experience, he was promoted from community management to level design. You know how the Doctor claims to have designed half of the multiplayer maps in "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare?" Chalk it up to another one of his boasts that's actually true.

To keep his focus on his work in game design, Beahm retired Dr Disrespect for almost five years, only returning to YouTube after leaving Sledgehammer behind. Faced with the choice of continuing to pursue game design with another studio or returning to the character that put him on the map, Beahm chose the Doc, working out a consulting deal with the streaming platform Boom.tv.

"They funded my studio, rent and broke down the revenue made from streaming," Beahm said. "It came down to my wife, and she said to try to stream and see where it went."

Beahm spent his early years as a streamer learning the ropes and laying a foundation, but it wasn't until his return that his fame started to skyrocket. He came back in a big way in 2016, gaining fans by streaming the battle-royale style game "H1Z1: King of the Kill" and, later, "PUBG." Finally, the Doctor was reaching his true potential.

The combination of the unique, fun-to-watch battle royale games with a charismatic, over-the-top, fun-to-watch character made for a classic case of "right place, right time," and the Doc surged forth into an ascendant 2017, becoming one of the top PUBG streamers by playing obsessively and aggressively over the course of the year.

During this time, the Doc truly went into business for himself, kicking off his own merch line, streaming at live events to packed crowds, and winning the Trending Gamer award from the Game Awards. It's hard to imagine things would've gone as well for him if he'd stayed in game development instead of getting back in the arena where he belongs. 

"Thank God I'm not in the industry anymore," he proclaimed during a 2017 stream. "I am the industry."

No one takes more abuse from the Doc than his offscreen staffers, the faceless employees in charge of his studio who may or may not exist. But he's also directed his ire at a number of real-world targets, living up to his name and sparking feuds and controversy. Over the course of his streaming career, he's roasted and feuded with the likes of Tyler1 and Summit1g — but just like with wrestling, there's a certain amount of kayfabe-esque fakery to the interactions. Other encounters haven't gone so smoothly.

In July 2017, the Doc was shockingly banned from "PUBG" after shooting a teammate in the head, violating the game's rules against team kills. The developer of the game, PlayerUnknown, went so far as to directly address the Doc on Twitter, writing: "If you break the rules in @PUBATTLEGROUNDS ... no matter who you are ... you're gonna have a bad time!"

This was not a fight the Doc could walk away from, threatening a variety of kicks against the developer which weren't taken as a joke. The Doc then made a new account on the game to continue playing, taunting the dev with stream names like "Jump Kicks" and "#triggeredDevs."

On a less personal level, he also disrespected the entire institution of Nintendo, decrying the studio's games as beneath him. "Listen," the Doc said. "I deal with high-level, first-person shooter, high-skill, open-world, interactive, apocalyptic arenas where you gotta be the last guy alive."

The Doc has revealed few details about his real self over the course of his streams, rarely appearing out of character and only making faint allusions to his real life on video. Despite this, it was known to his fanbase that the Doc was a husband and a father, with his wife referenced under the monikers Mrs. Assassin or Nurse Disrespect.

In December 2017, Beahm finished off his high-flying year at a crushing low point, unexpectedly appearing in a livestream out of character, barely able to look into the lens. Tearfully, he revealed that he had been unfaithful to his wife, and would be taking time off from his streaming career to focus on his family and try to mend the damage done.

"Stupid f***ing mistakes, man," he said. "I'm going to take time off to focus on my family, and I just wanted to let you guys know that." He extended an apology to his sponsors, Twitch, and his followers — and for a time, the fate of the Doc's channel seemed entirely in the air. The reveal itself, a disarming IRL video from a streamer not known for it, went viral on its own merits, and speculation about the Doc's future spread widely across the streaming community.

While the revelation of real-life infidelity cast a pall of uncertainty over the future of the channel, the Doctor didn't spend his time away from streaming crying into his king-size waterbed. Instead, he regrouped off-camera, reconciled with his family, and got himself back up and running in about a month and a half. 

True to form, the Doc announced his return with a video that alluded to the real-life situation in the most over-the-top way possible — held at knifepoint by his wife.

"I messed up. I messed up big time," he said in the announcement video. "I didn't think I was gonna make it out alive — but I did. We all did. The Doc is coming back."

On Dr Disrespect's eventual return on February 5, he was met with a rapturous response by the viewing audience, breaking the record for most concurrent viewers of a single Twitch stream with, according to the platform, "over 388,000" people streaming his return. He also claims to have broken Twitch in the process of returning, with the whole site coincidentally going down for ten minutes upon his arrival.

His subscriber base, rebranded from the Slick Daddy Club to the Champion's Club, grew by more than 12,000 new subscribers on his first day back, with viewers rewarding him with thousands of dollars in donations over the course of the day's stream. Turns out that the demise-and-rise narrative has an appeal to audiences no matter what you do. 

The Doc's return went supremely well, and he returned to a weekly full-time streaming schedule while evidently rearranging some aspects of his life, calling his reconciliation with his wife a "learning process" and a "rebuilding process." As a part of his penance and growth, he apparently gave up alcohol. "I'm not preaching everyone should do it," he said. "I'm just — I'm doing it. Whether you like it or not? I'm doing it. And the effects? Magnificent."

Though the Doc's cheating admission undeniably raised his profile through the sheer power of gossip and scandal, he's not keeping the new influx of cash solely to himself. Shortly after returning, he announced that, together with his wife, he would be donating a portion of his Twitch proceeds to charity in a new monthly initiative spearheaded by Mrs. Assassin. 

The Doctor's wife also stepped out a little from behind the scenes after the gamer's fall from grace, providing glimpses of the Doctor's return on her own Instagram page. Also, amusingly, the Doc returned to streaming sans human mods for his chatroom, replacing his moderator staff with bots. They may not be as good at reading chat as people, but they're not as prone to gossip, either.

The brief fall and rise of Dr Disrespect says a lot about the communities that form around people who stream their lives for a living. The viewers grow an attachment to the streamer, but the streamer comes to rely on their audience, too.

In the last few years, the Doc has made his community know how much he appreciates them, which might come as a surprise considering his abrasive, aggressive persona. Sometimes it's as simple as scrolling through Twitter, appreciating Doc-themed Halloween costumes fans have put together. Other times his appreciation for the fans is more direct, like the time the Doc talked one fan through a period of suicidal thinking, speaking to the viewer directly on the stream and showing compassion without ever dropping character.

Another time, a simple candid compliment from a fan who said how much he loved the Doc (without realizing he was in a game with him) reduced him to tears. No matter how much he talks about violence, speed, and momentum, there's a real human heart beating inside the chest of this elite gamer.

Twitch has a created a whole new tier of celebrities — people with millions of devoted fans who don't necessarily live the celebrity lifestyle. They drive their own cars. They shop at the grocery store just like you do. And they often live in middle class neighborhoods. Unfortunately, what they share in common with popular musicians and movie stars is the danger they're constantly in, especially if someone figures out where they live.

No one knows that better than Dr Disrespect, who suddenly felt a lot less safe in early September 2018. Someone shot at his home, breaking a window in the process.

Doc was understandably affected by the incident. He abruptly ended the stream he was on in order to contact authorities, later putting up a message on his Twitch page to let everyone know that he and his family were safe. Police in the area investigated and later determined that a BB gun was likely the weapon used, and as of September 12, 2018, a suspect had not yet been identified.

"Fortnite" is one of Twitch's biggest games right now, and is by far the most popular battle royale game on the service. And occasionally, those who primarily play "PUBG" will jump over to "Fortnite" and stream a different twist on the genre. Dr Disrespect has played "Fortnite" in the past, but he'll have no problem telling you which is the better game — at least in his opinion.

It's "PUBG." And Doc's gripe with "Fortnite" is actually one that a lot of shooter fans have with the game. It sometime feels less like a competitive shooting game and more like a building competition.

"I just don't get the feeling with 'Fortnite,'" Doc said on a stream, lamenting all the building that the game requires and the emphasis on that mechanic over skilled shooting.

The Doc is no stranger to controversy, both in his personal life as well as on stream. And this penchant for stirring up drama has gotten him into some trouble in the past. But one of Dr Disrespect's more recent skirmishes is notable not because of what he did or said, but who he said it to. The Doctor prescribed some unsolicited streaming advice to Tyler1, a streamer well known for his short temper. And Tyler1 responded as only Tyler1 could: crassly.

"I like Tyler1," the Doc answered when someone in his stream asked about the volatile "League of Legends" player. "I think he should be playing multiple types of games. I think he should be in the shooter realm as well, like the old school "H1Z1" days. Proximity chat, that's what he needs."

Tyler1 wasted no time responding on his own stream later. "Shut the f*** up, dude! I've been back for seven months! Have I switched games? No. Why would your opinion matter to me?"

The feud continued on over several months. Doc eventually told Tyler1, "You're not in my league." And Tyler1 shot back, citing his impressive IQ and muscular build. Oh, streamer drama.

It's easy to become engrossed in Dr Disrespect's brash on-screen character. He plays the role so convincingly that, to the uninitiated, he might actually seem like a villain. But the streamers you know and love are humans, and nothing reminds you better of that fact than when they're at their most vulnerable. When their worlds are rocked, and when they feel close enough to their community to open up about it.

Tragedy struck Dr Disrespect in mid-2018 when his wife suffered a miscarriage. The Doc's community was already aware of her pregnancy, so Doc — while in character — somberly shared the news on stream.

"I've been trying to avoid it for a little bit," he said after being asked about the baby in his chat. "Been trying to avoid that question for a little while and there is a specific reason why. Unfortunately, we lost it. So we got to focus on what's next. That's the bummer news I've been trying to avoid for a little while."

Doc then apologized to those watching the stream for sharing such sad news — and if that doesn't crush your soul, do you have one?

Sure, you can run around with those generic looking "PUBG" skins. But if you're a man or woman that exudes excellence — if you're a winner — there's only one set of skins that you should be using.

At least, that's probably what Dr Disrespect would say about the skins found in his Speed and Momentum Crate, which "PUBG" sold for a limited time in mid-2018.

What came packed inside the crate? Two guns — the M416 and Kar98k — decked out in black and red, and stamped with the signature shades and stash logo of Dr Disrespect. And Doc wasn't alone in getting his own custom set of "PUBG" skins. Popular Twitch streamer Shroud also got his own pack right alongside DisRespect, as Bluehole — the studio behind "PUBG" — showed love to two players who helped tremendously in growing the game's community.

Unfortunately, you can no longer buy these skins. But what goes around often comes back around again, so keep your eyes peeled in the "PUBG" store.

Dr Disrespect typically would rather ask for forgiveness than permission, especially when it comes to entertaining his massive audience. But sometimes that tendency lands him in hot water. An incident in 2019 resulted in the Doc being kicked out of E3 and receiving a temporary ban on Twitch. 

Dr Disrespect decided not only to go to E3 but also to turn his trip into his channel's first ever livestream. All in all that sounds like a pretty great idea, and the move definitely attracted the Doc's fans. Unfortunately, his commitment to streaming every part of his experience went a little too far. 

The Doc's cameraman followed him into the bathroom and captured a shot of him going into a stall, but in the process he also filmed a handful of other people who didn't necessarily want their bathroom trip broadcast to the entire world. Needless to say, neither Twitch nor E3 appreciated the move, and a rep for the Entertainment Software Association confirmed to Kotaku that he'd had his E3 badge taken away. Dr Disrespect apologized for the incident in a rare out-of-character video. 

It's now been so long since Dr Disrespect streamed on Twitch that some fans may have forgotten the initial shock of his sudden departure. In mid-2020, Dr Disrespect was banned from Twitch with little to no warning for anyone. Fans were left scratching their heads because it wasn't immediately apparent what the Doc had done to warrant the ban. Some speculated at the time that it might have had something to do with the Doc talking about coronavirus conspiracy theories on his channel, but Twitch refrained from commenting on the ban.

The move sparked a new feud between Dr Disrespect and Twitch that went on for years. In all that time, Dr Disrespect himself never said why the ban had occurred, but he may have filed a lawsuit against Twitch for the damage the ban did to his brand. Almost two years after the ban, the Doc made an unceremonious Twitter post stating, "I have resolved my legal dispute with Twitch. No party admits to any wrongdoing." In a reply, he clarified that he won't be returning to the platform, however. 

To this day, fans aren't really sure what went down behind the scenes, and this ban might just remain one of streaming's biggest mysteries.

In the immediate aftermath of Dr Disrespect's Twitch ban, fans were left hanging for a long time. The Doc took an extended hiatus from streaming that started to worry his diehards as it stretched on for weeks. When he finally did make his return, it set the stage for a new era of the Doc's brand and career.

The Two-Time took to Twitter to announce his return on August 6, nearly two months after Twitch booted him from the platform. He wasn't just announcing a return to streaming, though, but also a major move to YouTube as his streaming home. 

It didn't take him long to get his audience to make the shift along with him, and now Dr Disrespect's channel stands at well over 4 million followers. The Twitch ban may have been a little more than a bump in the road, but Dr Disrespect didn't let it derail him.

Near the end of his dizzying 2020, Dr Disrespect got to do some hands-on work with a real video game studio. He partnered with First Watch Games to create some brand new content for the developer's game "Rogue Company." Together they released an in-game skin modeled on the Doc, but even more exciting for the man himself was the map they created. Dr Disrespect designed "The Arena," and he excitedly announced the map ahead of its implementation in "Rogue Company."

Dr Disrespect's fans were thrilled to get to compete on a map designed by their favorite streamer, but some of that enthusiasm faded quickly. Fans complained on Reddit that shortly after the initial launch, "Rogue Company" streams seemed to fall by the wayside on the Doc's channel. Others pointed out that the game simply didn't pull in very many viewers for him. As exciting as working on the game might have been, Dr Disrespect needed to focus on getting attention on his channel, and he had even bigger moves coming around the corner.

Unless you're an avid Dr Disrespect fan, you might have missed that the streamer released a book in 2021. "Violence. Speed. Momentum." is a memoir written by Dr Disrespect himself, and that's an important distinction to make. As mentioned previously, his real name is Guy Beahm, and though he has a lot in common with his onscreen persona, he definitely plays up aspects of his personality for his fans. And his book is 100% written from the Doc's perspective.

Not long after "Violence. Speed. Momentum." made its debut, Dr Disrespected started coming for the New York Times. When the Times released its Best Seller list, Dr Disrespect's name was nowhere to be found. He called out the paper on Twitter, claiming that the Best Seller list was a scam and it included books that sold significantly fewer copies than his own. 

No one was sure where the Doc was getting his numbers from, especially considering that at the time of the feud, Amazon didn't rank his book in its top 1,000 sellers. Still, that did nothing to diminish the Doc's rage. Maybe his next book release will go over a little better.

Dr Disrespect has always been a huge fan of competitive shooters like "Call of Duty," and to a certain extent he's built his brand around being a hyper-competitive player who's got no problem trash talking enemies, teammates, and even the games he's playing. That attitude definitely wins him some fans, but every once in a while it comes back around to disrupt his plans.

In November 2022, the Doc's comments over proximity chat in a "Warzone 2.0" match didn't go over so well. Activision handed Dr Disrespect a 7 day ban for using a rude word to refer to multiple players in a match. What especially upset the Doc was that the ban came just before a $100,000 tournament.

Dr Disrespect is nothing if not determined, and he wasn't about to let a ban stop him from playing more "Warzone." In the middle of what should have been a hiatus from playing, the Doc streamed matches on an alternate account and talked to his viewers about what had happened. Though Activision's decision definitely left him frustrated, it ultimately became just another episode in the Doc's ongoing love/hate relationship with "Call of Duty."

Many streamers end up diversifying their interests and working on non-gaming projects when they reach a certain level of fame. Whether it's something as simple as creating t-shirts and merch or as expansive as starting a burger chain, streamers often branch out because they want to try something new and their side projects can bring in even more fans and income.

Leave it to Dr Disrespect to launch his own brand of bourbon. Called Black Steel Bourbon, the brand brought the Doc together with a Kentucky-based distillery and master distiller Marianne Eaves. The bourbon brand officially launched on November 17, 2022, posting an announcement trailer on Twitter that fit right in line with Dr Disrespect's other branding. The Doc promised his bourbon would show fans "what winning tastes like," and apparently that's all the marketing he needed to do. It took just under 2 hours and 15 minutes before the first run of Black Steel Bourbon sold out. Even for the Doc, that kind of turnaround is impressive.

Dr Disrespect is full of surprises, but there might be nothing more surprising than the fact that he's a musician. Over the years, the Two-Time has released a number of singles, and almost all of them have turned into major successes among the fanbase. Tracks like 2020's "Alleyways" have pulled over 8 million views on YouTube. Even the Doc's less popular singles, like the Mountain Dew-promoting "Gamerobics," easily pull in over half a million views.

The Doc's music is clearly inspired by 80s pop and modern synthwave tunes. The songs make a perfect backing track to a night of landing headshots in an FPS, and fans will be happy to know that Dr Disrespect has plans for lots more music to be released in the future. In February 2022, the Doc showed off an unreleased song on his stream to huge acclaim from chat. 

Just a month later on another stream, the Doc said, "Champs I got a busy life, man, I really do. Between the album and the bourbon and the 100-plus million dollar soon-to-be studio ... I got a lot going on." Considering he delivered on the bourbon only a matter of months after announcing it, there really might be a full album coming soon.

Dr Disrespect has always been vocal about his opinions on any game he plays, and more often than not he's quick to criticize the flaws he sees. On December 14, 2021 the Doc put his money where his mouth is by launching Midnight Society, his very own game development studio.

Though the Doc has plenty of experience in the gaming world, he didn't intend on running Midnight Society all by himself. The company has three other co-founders who bring a wealth of experience to everything it does. Sumit Gupta, the founder of Boom.tv, works as the company's CEO. Robert Bowling, with over a decade of experience as a creative lead for "Call of Duty," is the studio head. Quinn Delhoyo, known for his work on "Halo" with 343 Industries, operates as Midnight Society's creative director.

Right out of the gate, the company said it wanted to focus on its community first and promised to involve fans in the development process from the very beginning. At the time, fans knew that Midnight Society was developing an FPS with a focus on competitive play, but other details about the project were shrouded in mystery.

Unfortunately for Midnight Society, as the studio began clearing up some of the mysteries surrounding its debut project, it also courted controversy. To both raise money for the project and get fans involved, Midnight Society offered a Founder's Pass. For $50, the Founder's Pass gave players access to early builds of the game while also allowing them to give their own input on the development process. What really upset some gamers, however, was that the Founders Pass also introduced NFTs to Midnight Society's game in the form of personalized avatars.

Midnight Society isn't the first studio to try its hand at incorporating NFTs into a game, but that hasn't stopped fans from trashing the idea on Reddit. The biggest complaint is that, aside from earning more money for the developer, there doesn't seem to be an obvious upside to having NFTs in the game. Outside of the game, NFTs have a massive carbon footprint, and plenty of gamers don't think that having a unique in-game cosmetic is worth dumping more pollution into the environment. 

Dr Disrespect tried to alleviate fan's concerns by promising during a stream that NFTs won't be a requirement for the game, which is free-to-play, but that still doesn't address fans' potential environmental concerns or make a case for NFTs actually being a good inclusion for the game itself. 

Luckily for Dr Disrespect's fans, a number of tangible details have about Midnight Society's first game. Called "Deadrop," the game is a "vertical extraction shooter" that combines the best aspects of Battle Royales with the tight design of arena shooters. The game is set in a dystopian future where climate change has wrought massive destruction on the world, and humanity has responded by building megastructures called Refiner States. These structures help clean the air, but they also function as independent cities, and various factions war for control over them.

The game is still early in its development process and doesn't have a definite release date yet. Midnight Society has been updating its fans with snapshots of the game as they work on it, and Dr Disrespect even played one of those snapshots live on stream.

One thing that sets "Deadrop" apart is the amount of fan involvement that's going into its development. The Founders Pass gave 10,000 fans early access to preview snapshots and the ability to give their input on the direction of game, but even more Access Passes are planned for the future.