In June 2020, Beahm was permanently banned from Twitch for then-undisclosed reasons.[3] He returned to streaming on YouTube a month later.[4] In June 2024, former Twitch employees disclosed that his ban was due to sexting with a minor using Twitch's Whisper feature[a] in 2017.[9] Beahm initially acknowledged the nature of his ban in a tweet, admitting that the messages "sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate", before eventually deleting the tweet.[10][11] Following the admission, YouTube demonetized and suspended his channel from the platform's partner program, and his partnerships were suspended.[12] In November 2024, Beahm signed a deal to stream on Rumble and become an advisor for its gaming category.[13]
On January 12, 2010, Beahm published his first YouTube video on the "Dr Disrespect" channel, which is a variation of then-popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 commentary videos. It mixed clips of Beahm trash talking over footage of gameplay with real-life footage of him in costume as Dr Disrespect, his persona of a bombastic and body-armored "champion".[19][20] He had purchased the character's signature wig, mustache, and glasses from a costume shop. The video's success led to Beahm becoming a partnered creator with Machinima, which was then a prominent gaming network on YouTube.[18]
The "Champions Club" logo seen, the website was launched in 2018
He joined Justin.tv (which later became Twitch) while he was working at Sledgehammer, and quit the studio at the end of 2015 to focus on a full-time live streaming career.[18]
Beahm has faced controversy for various on-stream comments. One significant incident involved his uses of caricatured Eastern Asian accents and language. Musician Jimmy Wong compiled a series of clips highlighting these instances during his livestreams, accusing him of racism. He responded by stating that he has Asian friends and dismissing the criticism as "laughable".[27]
E3 restroom filming incident
On June 11, 2019, Dr Disrespect's Twitch channel was suspended as he was livestreaming while attending the 2019 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California. Beahm and his cameraman went into a public restroom (he re-entered the restroom on two occasions, with filming still going on) at the venue in violation of Twitch's privacy rules.[28][29] E3 organizer Entertainment Software Association revoked Dr Disrespect's E3 pass, banning him from the event.[28][30] Twitch reinstated his channel on June 25.[31][32]
Permanent ban from Twitch, move to YouTube, and fallout
Dr Disrespect
@drdisrespect
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.
I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid.
Beahm signed a multi-year deal with Twitch in March 2020.[34] On June 26, his account was indefinitely banned from Twitch for violating their Community Guidelines.[35] That same day, Discord removed Dr Disrespect from their partnership program, citing violations of their Code of Conduct.[3] He tweeted that he was not informed of Twitch's "specific reason behind their decision".[36] A month later, in interviews with PC Gamer and The Washington Post, he insisted that he did not know why Twitch banned him and debunked "crazy speculation" and conspiracy theories over it.[3][37] On August 7, he started a livestream on YouTube at 12:00 pm. PDT (8:00 pm. UTC); the next day at 4:00 pm. PDT (12:00 am. UTC), he appeared on-stream and briefly addressed his ban.[38][4][39] Beahm claimed in August 2021 that he knew the reason and sued Twitch.[40] The legal dispute was eventually resolved in 2022, with neither party admitting wrongdoing and "moving on".[41] Beahm later claimed his contract was paid out in full.[42]
Beahm criticized Twitch for banning him, calling them "slithery disgusting purple snakes" and claiming that it cost him "a lot of big deals, a lot of sponsorships".[43] He also claimed that he declined a "gracious" $10 million annual offer to stream on Kick, an alternative platform known for hosting controversial content creators,[44] because his demand for $50 million was not met.[45]
Evidence eventually emerged in June 2024 corroborating allegations that Beahm had sent sexually explicit messages to a minor, with former Twitch director of strategic partnerships Cody Conners tweeting on June 21 that he "got caught sexting a minor in the then existing Twitch whispers product" in 2017. He claimed that Beahm was "trying to meet up with her at TwitchCon".[46][6][7][8]
Dr Disrespect in 2021
Beahm initially denied the allegations, stating that he did "nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid".[47][48] On a livestream of Elden Ring, he considered leaving his business ventures, saying that he was "burnt out" by the allegations.[49] He later acknowledged sending messages that he claimed "sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate"; that statement was removed in August, and he tweeted afterwards that "we have lots to talk about".[10][11] Anonymous former Twitch employees alleged to Rolling Stone that the statement was inaccurate, characterizing the messages as "sexually graphic" and that Beahm kept sending these messages even after being made aware the individual was underage.[7][50][8]
In response, YouTube suspended Beahm from the platform's partner program as well as his access to YouTube's monetization features.[12] His partnerships with FanDuel, Midnight Society, Turtle Beach and other sponsors were also suspended.[51]
On September 6, 2024, Beahm returned to streaming on YouTube and issued a lengthy statement denying allegations that he sexted a minor and claimed that neither he "nor the Twitch user exchanged any sexually graphic messages or images".[52] He also claimed that Conners "wasn't even involved" in Twitch's investigation and "didn't have any firsthand knowledge about my dispute with Twitch", which Beahm said did not "escalate Twitch's report to law enforcement". Beahm additionally claimed that he never intended to meet her at TwitchCon, and accused the former Twitch community manager and "big-time publications" of targeting him.[53] Later that month, his remonetization request to YouTube was denied.[54]
In October 2024, Beahm released a line of merchandise with the slogan "Make Gaming Great Again", referring to Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan.[54]
Rumble deal
On November 25, 2024, Beahm announced that he had signed a deal with streaming platform Rumble that included equity in the company and a role as the head and advisor of its Rumble Gaming category. The contract required Beahm to produce exclusive content for Rumble Premium for his Champions Club community as well as streaming free content on the site starting in early December. Beahm also made a social media post on his personal account claiming that he was a victim of cancel culture based on falsehoods.[55][56][54]
Beahm's character, Dr Disrespect (also known as The Doc and The Two-Time[b]), is usually depicted during livestreams as bombastic and provocative. Originally, he was depicted to have "a very serious, dark tone".[17] His supporters and fandom are said to be part of the "Champions Club".[3] Darin Kwilinski of ESPN described him as "a WWE character in the competitive gaming world" and Beahm said that he "created a character who plays multiplayer video games, and he's considered the most dominating gaming specimen".[17]
While playing as Dr Disrespect, he wears a black mullet wig, sunglasses, a red or black long-sleeved athletic shirt, and a red or black tactical vest. He sports a mustache he has nicknamed "The Poisonous Ethiopian Caterpillar".[57] Members of his family, if they make an appearance during a livestream, are also occasionally mentioned as part of the Dr Disrespect persona, with his wife portraying "Mrs. Assassin" and their daughter as "Baby Assassin" or "Baby Disrespect".[18]
Projects
Video game development
In October 2020, Beahm worked with Hi-Rez Studios to design a custom map and a Dr Disrespect character skin for the third-person shooter video game Rogue Company.[58] The content was removed in July 2024, and the developers offered "Rogue Bucks" refunds for the prior purchases of the skin, which was criticized by players on social media.[59][60]
In December, Beahm announced the launch of a game studio, Midnight Society, to be headed by him along with Call of Duty and Halo veterans Robert Bowling and Quinn DelHoyo.[62][63][64] Their in-development free-to-play battle royale title, codenamed Project Moon and later Dead Drop and DEADROP,[65][66] sparked criticism around the sale of "Founder's Access" NFTs which allow owners to provide input on the development of the game.[67][68] On June 24, 2024, he was terminated from the studio after learning about the allegation of sending inappropriate messages to a minor.[69][49]
In June 2024, shortly after the reason for Beahm's Twitch ban was revealed, 2K Sports removed all content in NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K24 featuring him including his character model, related elements from MyCareer mode, and his custom dunk and jump shot animations.[70]
Other ventures
Excerpt of an advertisement with Turtle Beach by Dr Disrespect in 2017
Beahm collaborated with professional wrestler The Undertaker for a G Fuel commercial in February 2020, which was portrayed as a special feud.[71][72]
In August, Beahm announced that he was writing a personal memoir called Violence. Speed. Momentum. about Dr Disrespect's origins.[73] The book, fictitiously ghostwritten by "Nigel P. Farnsworth III", was published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, on March 30, 2021.[74]
Beahm is married and has a daughter. He resides in San Diego County, California.[7][78] In December 2017, he confessed on a livestream to having cheated on his wife, and he stopped streaming for several months before returning in February 2018.[79][80][81]
^Browning, Kellen (December 12, 2023). "Gambling, Risky Pranks and Lucrative Contracts: Inside the Streaming Site Kick". The New York Times. Retrieved July 3, 2024. Until recently, Kick employed a laissez-faire approach to content moderation, which attracted controversial characters like Mr. [Alan] Ross, who was banned from Twitch earlier this year. Other streamers have filmed themselves committing apparent crimes, like trespassing and sexual assault.
^Farah, Christopher; Beahm, Guy (2022). "Epilogue". Violence. Speed. Momentum. New York: Gallery Books. p. 231. ISBN9781982153878. Retrieved July 15, 2024. My name is Nigel P. Farnsworth III, though I am perhaps best known to the readers of this memoir by the jocular sobriquet "Nigel the Editor." Indeed, I am the editor of this intriguing, dare I say, rather, unique entry into the canon of Western nonfiction.
.jpg)
.png)
