LOS ANGELES, CA – JULY 13: Gamer Dr DisRespect is interviewed on Twitch Prime and PUBG … [+]
This article was updated on 06/29/20
It is perhaps one of the most important moments in the history of the broadcast and, currently, the greatest mystery on the Internet. Yesterday, Guy “Dr. Disrespectful” Beahm was kicked out of Twitch, apparently forever. A specific reason has not been publicly stated, and a small circle of those who apparently know what is happening are not speaking. But everything we are seeing points in the same problematic direction, and there is much to go through.
First, we’ve got what’s official, and that’s just a frustratingly vague statement from Twitch:
While I wouldn’t expect Twitch to publicly state the exact nature of the crime, they don’t even confirm the length of the ban.
But Rod “Slasher” Breslau was the first to report that the ban was permanent and that, despite early rumors, it had nothing to do with the DMCA’s complaints.
It would make little sense for Disrespectful to be hit with a ban, much less a permanent one, for something as simple as copyrighted audio. Dr. Disrespect publicly re-signed a contract, almost certainly worth millions, with Twitch in March 2020.
This also occurs in the broader context of many Twitch streamers, almost all male, being accused of various levels of sexual harassment and abuse in the past week, and almost all survivors are members of the female community or fellow streamers. These crimes range from inappropriate DM to actual sexual assault in person. Twitch released a statement in the midst of this saying they would start taking action against specific individuals, and we’ve seen a series of bans by some of the accused in recent days, probably those whose crimes could be proven or admitted, or perhaps if the abuse had taken place on the platform itself.
However, the strange twist here is that Dr. Disrespect was no the target of such claims in the last week of disclosures.
Dr. Disrespect’s past problems are well known. He walked away from the broadcast for a time when it was publicly revealed that he had been unfaithful to his wife (whom he is still with, and has expressed his appreciation for her support in this more recent situation). Then, he was temporarily banned from Twitch after streaming from a public restroom. And yet, last week we didn’t hear any claims about him publicly, though that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen in private.
But what is developing is clearly serious. While Twitch does not confirm the permanent ban, they have issued refunds to Dr. Disrespect’s “Club of Champions” subscribers. I don’t recall ever seeing this before before Ninja and Shroud left Twitch for Mixer. That implies that this prohibition is long-term or permanent.
I have seen two people in the industry publicly claim knowledge of what Dr. Disrespect has done to obtain this ban. The first is Slasher:
I have known Slasher for a long time as an Internet acquaintance and I know two things. One is that his inside information is almost always correct, and the second is that he’s not afraid to reveal secrets, usually about great e-sports deals and the like. But the fact that he doesn’t say what he knows here is further evidence of the possible seriousness of what is happening.
The second person is ShannonZKiller, a streamer who posted and deleted a tweet saying that she knew what had happened, and that Dr. Irrespect was done “not just on Twitch.” She was later given additional credit once it became known that Dr. Disrespect’s Discord partnership also appears to have ended. So great things are happening behind the scenes.
All this points to something quite dark. the only The reason I can think why this has not yet leaked is that something was shared privately with Twitch that was A) too distressing to air publicly in the last week of revelations and B) possibly criminal. Everyone is citing Dr. Disrespect’s old infidelity as possibly again, but that doesn’t seem to be what this is. And if this is an ongoing criminal issue that could potentially involve law enforcement, it would make it very clear why Twitch or even insiders don’t want to say that publicly. But when you think of all the things that have come up about streamers last week, your mind skips to some obvious candidates of what might have happened here, but then again, it’s not wise to speculate on details. Although yes, it’s likely to be much bigger than the DMCA drama or the bathroom broadcast, and it won’t stay hidden forever.
One last thing worth checking out is the end of Dr. Disrespect’s last broadcast, captured on video. He seems to receive a message on his phone, reads it, and his behavior totally changes before the transmission abruptly ends. And that’s the last thing we’ve seen of him. And it may be the last time we see it on a streaming platform, if these rumors are true.
Check back here for more updates, but for now, it seems clear this is extremely dire, given Twitch’s significant action and the silence surrounding the details. I contacted Dr. Disrespectful for comment, but his business email listed on YouTube returned a bribery error. Stay tuned.
To update: Dr. Disrespect has finally released a public statement about his ban, and it has only made everyone even more confused.
Once again, Dr. Disrespect signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with Twitch in March. If they just ended that without cause, without letting him know why, he would probably appeal against them. So either you’re not being completely honest here, or Twitch hasn’t really told the management of … a third party yet. These are the only explanations that would make sense. I don’t think this is any kind of publicity stunt in either Doc’s or Twitch’s ending, as some say. More to come.
Update 2 (06/29):
Since Doc’s initial statement, we have heard nothing more from him or Twitch, or from possible leakers, and only a few other people have claimed to know the reason for the ban. Those who have, are not yet saying. As Slasher points out, it is generally Twitch’s policy not to comment or even inform streamers about the exact reasons for the bans, including why it may be true that they weren’t told Doc directly. And yet, given that They had a contract signed with him in March, this seems likely to be much more complicated than the average ban.
I’ve done my best to debunk two popular rumors that have surfaced in the past few days, one of them being Dr. Disrespect, Ninja and Shroud moved to a new streaming service called Brime, which appears to be just four random people who They were thinking about starting a new site after Mixer’s collapse, and it looks like they don’t have real infrastructure or funds in place, so that’s nothing.
The second is the idea of Spotify courting the trio, originally from a 4chan leak (which said Spotify is owned by Google, which it is not). Recently a Spotify Games Twitter account appeared, linked to spotify.com/games, redirecting to a blank page, and yet that domain seems to have been around since 2016. This probably isn’t anything either.
Once again, all the signs here point to some kind of serious legal problem, judging by the complete secrecy and silence surrounding one of the highest-profile streamer bans of all time. If the reason comes up, it probably won’t be from Twitch or Doc, as it will probably have to be a third party, or possibly the law enforcement itself, if that’s really the problem here. As always, stay tuned.
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