Every Major Deal Dr Disrespect Has Lost In His Scandal
In the space of a week, Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm has gone from being (ironically) one of the most respected streamers in the industry to losing almost all of his business partnerships. On June 21 disturbing allegations about Dr Disrespect cropped up online when ex-Twitch employee Cody Conners made a post indicating that the streamer was banned from Twitch back in 2020 for messaging with a minor. Beahm initially denied the allegations, but announced on June 24 that he'd be taking an indefinite break from streaming and social media.
Fans thought that would be the last they'd hear from the streamer for a while, the very next day, Dr Disrespect confirmed the reason for his Twitch ban. He admitted in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he had been caught sending messages that "sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate" to a minor back in 2017. In the post, Dr Disrespect pushed back on people accusing him of being a predator. He also stated that he wouldn't be leaving his career behind because of this scandal, writing, "They want me to disappear... yeah f***ing right."
When Beahm gets back from his extended vacation, he might still have some of his audience, but he almost certainly won't have the same career he had before this scandal broke. He's already lost most of his biggest sponsors and partnerships.
Turtle Beach pulled its Dr Disrespect headset
Turtle Beach has long been one of Dr Disrespect's main sponsors. If you've tuned into one of Dr Disrespect's streams in recent years, you've definitely seen signs of this partnership. Beahm first signed a deal with Turtle Beach in 2020, then a second contract in 2023. That fall, Turtle Beach even put out an exclusive Dr Disrespect-themed headset. Those headsets are no longer available on Turtle Beach's website, and if the Doc comes back to streaming, the company won't be one of his sponsors.
Turtle Beach sent a statement out to outlets like IGN that plainly states, "We will not be continuing our partnership with Guy Beahm/DrDisRespect." This might seem like a relatively small deal to lose, but streamers get a sizable chunk of their income from sponsorships like this, and odds are good that Turtle Beach isn't the only company that will balk at working with Dr Disrespect after this scandal.
The 49ers and NBA 2K24 are ending their partnerships
Fans know that Dr Disrespect loves football, even forming a partnership with his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers. Back in 2022, the Doc started making appearances in social media videos with the 49ers, and even got to announce the team's third round pick in that year's draft. Now the 49ers are another organization that's completely cutting ties with the streamer. After Dr Disrespect admitted to exchanging inappropriate messages with a minor, a representative for the team told SFGate, "We take these developments seriously and will not be working with him going forward."
That's not the only sports-related deal that Dr Disrespect lost in the wake of his admission, either. The Doc got to be a character in "NBA 2K24," but his time in the video game will be short-lived. Just days after Dr Disrespect's admission, the developers confirmed to Dexerto that they were already working on removing him from the game. In a statement to PC Gamer, they clarified, "The Dr Disrespect named player animations will be renamed in the next patch in August."
2K has confirmed to Dexerto that Dr Disrespect is being removed from NBA 2K24 in the next patch pic.twitter.com/1KeXLOJBXd
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) June 26, 2024
Midnight Society parted ways with the Doc
One of the biggest deals that Dr Disrespect has lost in the midst of this scandal was with his own game development studio, Midnight Society. The Doc and Midnight Society have been working on a game titled "Deadrop" for a few years now, but the company announced on June 24 that it would be continuing its work without him.
On Friday evening we became aware of an allegation against one of our co-founder's Guy Beahm aka Dr Disrespect.
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....
— Midnight Society (@12am) June 24, 2024
Notably, Midnight Society made this decision before Dr Disrespect released his own post admitting to some of the allegations. Fans were shocked to see Midnight Society was cutting ties with the face of the brand who'd brought them mainstream attention. Shortly after Dr Disrespect published his admission on X on June 25, Midnight Society studio head Robert Bowling put out a new statement. Bowling began by clarifying that his statement "does not reflect any of my companies and has not gone through any legal or PR approvals." He then went on to say, "If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you. Period. I promised to only act on facts, and I did." The Doc has said that he doesn't intend on going anywhere, but when he comes back from his extended vacation, it seems there's no way he'll be getting back on the Midnight Society team.
This is a statement from me personally. It does not reflect any of my companies and has not gone through any legal or PR approvals.
If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you.
Period.
I promised to only act on facts, and I did.
— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) June 25, 2024
YouTube has demonetized Dr Disrespect's channel
Losing the Midnight Society deal is a big blow to Dr Disrespect's career, but an arguably even bigger hit came on June 27, when YouTube demonetized his channel. A representative for the company told Kotaku, "We have suspended monetization on Dr Disrespect's channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy."
Dr Disrespect moved to YouTube shortly after Twitch banned him back in 2020. At the time, none of the streamer's fans knew why he had been banned, and against the odds, Dr Disrespect managed to rebuild his following on YouTube. He's been one of the platform's biggest streamers, despite not having an official contract with the company. According to YouTube's former head of gaming partnerships, Ryan Wyatt (per Rolling Stone), Beahm was never offered a contract with YouTube due to the rumors surrounding his Twitch ban, which the Google-owned platform was unable to substantiate until recently.
Losing monetization on his channel is going to make jumping back into streaming a real challenge, to say the least. If Dr Disrespect does plan on staying in the streaming industry, he's going to have to find a company willing to give him a platform, despite this massive scandal.