The Dr Disrespect allegations and fallout, explained
Dr Disrespect, a popular streamer, has been booted from his gaming studio after disturbing allegations surfaced about an apparent text conversation he had with a minor.
The video game streamer, whose real name is Herschel "Guy" Beahm, was unceremoniously kicked off Twitch four years ago. The public was unsure why. Now, reports suggest it was due to an inappropriate texting relationship with a minor.
An anonymous former employee on Twitch's trust and safety team told The Verge that Beahm messaged a minor using Twitch's now-defunct messaging service, Whispers, and attempted to set up a meeting at TwitchCon. Cody Conners, another former Twitch employee, posted on X alleging Beahm — though Conners did not say his name outright — was banned "because got caught sexting a minor."
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Beahm, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing.
"Listen, I'm obviously tied to legal obligations from the settlement with Twitch but I just need to say what I can say since this is the fucking internet," he wrote on X over the weekend. "I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid."
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In the wake of the allegations, Beahm is now out from Midnight Society, a gaming studio he co-founded.
On Monday, the studio posted a statement on X:
"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.
For this reason, we are terminating our relationship with Guy Beahm immediately.
While these facts are difficult to hear and even more difficult to accept, it is our duty to act with dignity on behalf of all individuals involved, especially the fifty-five developers and families we have employed along with our community of players."
Gizmodo reported that, during a stream on Monday evening, Beahm said he was taking a break from streaming because he was "burnt out."