It’s been a bad week for Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm. Then again, this Sword of Damocles has likely been hanging over the popular video game streamer’s head for years now. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out.
Beahm was banned from Twitch nearly four years ago and nobody said why until this past week when former Twitch employee, Cody Conners, claimed that it was due to sending inappropriate messages to a minor. Soon after, the game studio Beahm co-founded, Midnight Society, cut ties with the influencer.
Doc—as he’s often referred to—came out with his own statement on the matter on Tuesday, June 25th and perhaps ironically it was his own admission that created a new wave of backlash.
“Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017?” Beahm tweeted. “The answer is yes. Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not. These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more.”
The response was swift. Many other popular streamers and influencers, including some of Beahm’s close friends, made their own statements denouncing Beahm. Sponsors like Turtle Beach immediately dropped the streamer. His title agency, CAA, dropped him as well, as did NBA2K, the San Francisco 49ers and more.
Now YouTube has demonetized Dr Disrespect’s channel and any other channels he owns or creates in the future.
“We have suspended DrDisrespect’s channel from the YouTube Partner Program following serious allegations against the creator,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to the press. “This action means the channel is no longer able to monetize on YouTube.”
The statement continues: “Our Creator Responsibility Guidelines are clear that if a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees, or ecosystem, we may take action to protect our community, including by suspending monetization. While these behaviors are rare, they can cause widespread harm to the YouTube community, and potentially damage the trust among creators, users, and advertisers.”
Dr Disrespect told fans that he’s taking an extended family vacation but insisted that he’ll return to streaming when he gets back. With a Twitch ban and his YouTube channel demonetized, his sponsors gone and his support network in tatters, it’s unclear where Beahm would go. He’s likely popular enough still, even after this controversy, to find a perch and new sponsors—especially after a rehabilitation period—but we shall see.
The moral of the story? Well that’s pretty obvious, I should think. Send inappropriate messages to minors, major consequences follow.
