Dr Disrespect Finally Confirms Why He Was Removed From Twitch
Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm confirmed that his 2020 ban from Twitch was the result of using the Twitch Whispers platform to exchange inappropriate messages with a minor in 2017. On June 25, the Doc took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to issue a statement, saying, "First and foremost I do want to apologize to everyone in my community as well as those close to me, my team, and everyone at Midnight Society Game Studio."
He continued, "Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes." However, Dr Disrespect pushed back on the idea that his messages were predatory, emphasizing he never met the minor he was messaging and didn't do anything illegal. "These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more," he wrote.
Throughout his statement, Dr Disrespect explained he couldn't discuss any of this until now because of his legal dispute with Twitch. He also took a shot at his detractors online, writing, "To all my haters that live and breath social media with zero real life experience, I don't give a f*** about you." At the end of his post, the Doc said he's still planning to take a break from content creation, which he originally announced at the end of his stream on June 24 — but he doesn't plan to quit just yet. "I'm taking an extended vacation with my family as mentioned on stream and I'm coming back with a heavy weight off my shoulders."
How did Dr Disrespect get here?
Dr Disrespect's fans, and the entire streaming community, went through a whirlwind few days leading up to his admission. The internet first learned about the disturbing allegations that Dr Disrespect had been banned from Twitch after messaging a minor and allegedly attempting to meet up with them at TwitchCon when Cody Conners made a post laying out the situation on June 21.
Dr Disrespect initially denied any wrongdoing, writing, "I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid." Two days later, the Doc announced on his stream that he would be taking an indefinite break from streaming and that he'd likely be stepping away from his role at his game development studio, Midnight Society, too.
Shortly after Dr Disrespect wrapped up his stream, Midnight Society released its own statement announcing that it would be severing ties with the streamer. The company wrote, "We assumed his innocence and began speaking with parties involved. And in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals, we needed to act."
The internet isn't impressed by Dr Disrespect's response
People on X were quick to respond to Dr Disrespect's lengthy statement on June 25, and they didn't mince words about their feelings. Many took issue with how Dr Disrespect formatted the response itself, with one person writing, "So many words just to say u were texting a minor inappropriately." Others uploaded screenshots of the edit history on the Doc's post, showing that he added, removed, then re-added the word "minor" to his description of the individual he was messaging. Some paid less attention to the Doc's response to the allegations and instead, jumped on his attack against his haters. They took particular issue with him saying, "They want me to disappear," in his lengthy post. "Ah the 'it's not me, it's the cancel culture' arc," wrote one commenter.
In the comments section on Dr Disrespect's June 24 stream — where many fans were initially supportive of the Doc taking a break for his mental health — people returned to lay out how their feelings had since changed. One viewer simply stated, "Very disappointing turn of events." Another said, "It's honestly sad he did this. Never would've thought it was true. It's a sad day."
Streamers are issuing new takes
Streamers began reacting to Dr Disrespect and this story the moment it broke on June 21. There were people who immediately supported him and others who were quick to accept the allegations, but most streamers made it clear that they wanted to see more information before making a judgment.
Now that the situation is a bit clearer, some of those initial reactions have begun to shift and Dr Disrespect's biggest supporters aren't backing him up any longer. Nickmercs was an early defender of Dr Disrespect, but he uploaded a short video after reading the Doc's full statement, and said, "Just to be blunt and straightforward, man, that's inexcusable. It's unacceptable." Timthetatman, a frequent collaborator with Dr Disrespect, also uploaded a video response to the latest development in this story. He talked about how painful it was for him personally to learn that a friend of his had been sending inappropriate messages to a minor, and said, "If he knew that was a minor and those were the messages being sent, I cannot support that."
— timthetatman👑 (@timthetatman) June 25, 2024
Others were even more blunt in their response. Kai Cenat went through Dr Disrespect's lengthy post on his stream. He then unfollowed the Doc and said, "Go take that break, bro." The tone of that reaction hasn't been limited to just streamers. Midnight Society studio head Robert Bowling posted a response (which he clarified only represented his personal feelings), saying, "If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you. Period. I promised to only act on facts, and I did."