It has only been two days since DrDisrespect received allegations of ‘inappropriate interactions’ with minors, and the controversy has already made waves, seeing Guy Beahm dropped from his companies.
It has been nearly four years since DrDisrespect was banned outright from Twitch, and what internet personalities referred to as ‘one of the internet’s biggest mysteries’ was seemingly solved overnight when a former Twitch employee published an X (formerly Twitter) post. To recap (fans can also read CGMagazine’s initial coverage), a former Twitch employee revealed the reason DrDisrespect was banned from Twitch was due to his alleged inappropriate conduct with a minor in an X post, using the Twitch Whisper DM system to direct message fans of any age (in this case a minor).
The major allegation is that DrDisrespect made inappropriate conduct with a minor using this system, which was the reason for his permanent ban from Twitch. It was exposed by X user Cody Conners and can be seen below.
While it has been less than a week, the proverbial damage has already been done. In the past two days, Midnight Society and Turtle Beach, two companies that have worked with DrDisrespect over numerous years have decided to outright drop their association with him entirely. Midnight Society (the indie game developer), in particular, was co-founded by Guy Beahm and was working on their debut title, DEADDROP, with the streamer closely attached. They issued a statement also on X lamenting the reasoning for Twitch’s ban, and clarifying they initially ‘assumed’ Beahm’s innocence but immediately reversed course when they investigated. That post can be seen below.
Shortly after, DrDisrespect himself came out with a very long-winded statement that confirmed the inappropriate conduct with a minor, but he denounced all allegations that he continued inappropriate messaging. Beahm’s statement reads, “Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? 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. Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual,” confirming the interaction took place.
Interestingly enough, internet sleuths have gone behind the scenes, and channels like SomeOrdinaryGamers have pointed out DrDisrespects many edits on his Lonform X apology. The striking point is that Beahm edited his post to read “Were there Twitch whisper messages with an individual back in 2017?” instead of “individual minor,” which Mutahar points out is ‘legalese’ and designed to deter self-incrimination. The post has since been edited back to its former stance, but it’s worth mentioning this happened.
He also shared, “A lot of people have been left in the dark about what happened yesterday with Midnight Society and I, and we made the painful decision collectively to have me step down” to smooth over his removal from Midnight Society, yet Studio Head Robert Bowling stated bluntly after DrDisrespect’s post “If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you. Period.”
Turtle Beach has also rushed to remove any affiliation with DrDisrespect, as they’ve had collaborations with the streamer before all of the controversy including exclusive ‘Doc-coloured’ gear. In a statement to TechRadar, Turtle Beach has confirmed that “we will not be continuing our partnership with Guy Beahm / Dr. Disrespect,” with no extra clarification given.
Lastly, and probably most surprisingly, DrDisrespect’s clique of other professional streamers have also seemingly turned on him, with longtime streaming partner TimtheTatman formally denouncing DrDisrecpect/Guy Beahm’s actions. The streamer stated, “My bottom line, I think, is, if what he is saying where he said that he was messaging a minor, which would sometimes lead to – teeter on inappropriate; if he knew that was a minor and those were the messages being sent… I cannot support that.”
Another streamer, NICKMERCS, who TimTheTatman had defended in the past due to disparaging remarks toward the LGBTQ+ community (which got his official Call of Duty skins removed from the shop), has also spoken out saying he cannot support DrDisrespect on X.
Since the posting DrDisrespect/Guy Beahm has stated he will be “taking an extended vacation with my family as mentioned on stream and I’m coming back with a heavy weight off my shoulders.” He signs off the post with “They want me to disappear… yeah fucking right.” That basically ends the saga as it stands for the DrDisrespect controversy.
