Guy Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect, returned to YouTube to angrily deny claims that he sent explicit messages or images to a minor, saying he "shouldn't even be banned" from Twitch in a lengthy statement in which he called the messages "only banter."
Beahm was visibility agitated as he responded to the claims that he sent inappropriate messages via the platform's Whispers function, taking aim at the media who reported on the accusations and arguing that he was treated unfairly compared to other streamers. He also claimed that Cody Conners, the former Twitch employee who initially revealed the reasons behind Beahm's ban on Twitch, "wasn't even involved" in the process in an expletive-laden rant in which he claimed the case was "settled professionally." (Disclosure: Conners briefly worked at IGN in 2011)
"You know, you don't know sh*t and it was obvious from your tweet," Beahm claimed. "You didn't have any firsthand knowledge about my dispute with Twitch. You said that I got banned from Twitch because I was sexting a minor through Whispers messages? Do you even know what the legal definition of sexting is? I do. And yeah, I used Twitch's Whispers, but I wasn't sexting anyone."
He went on to deny that he met up with the individual he messaged at TwitchCon. "Let's set the record straight: I never intended to meet this user ever. We never made plans to meet at TwitchCon or anywhere else, and in fact, we never met in person ever."
Beahm's message came amid his first stream since June, which took place on YouTube and was titled "The Truth." He was responding to claims that he had been banned from Twitch because he sent explicit messages to a minor via Whispers in 2020. A former Twitch employee told Rolling Stone in June, "There was no confusion. Messages sent after this was acknowledged were no less graphic and in sexually explicit nature than before, and I think more than the categorization of ‘leaning too much in the direction of being inappropriate’ might indicate."
In a statement originally posted to X/Twitter after the initial accusations, Beahm acknowledged that the messages occurred, but said "I'm not perfect, but I'm not predator" and that "nothing illegal happened." It followed his ousting from Midnight Society, the studio he helped co-found, which happened soon after Conners came forward on X/Twitter. The statement was subsequently deleted. This was the original statement.
Apparently responding to the Rolling Stone article, Beahm said, "They reported on all of this based on leaks from two former Twitch employees, one of whom was supposedly on the trust and safety team. If these anonymous sources worked on the trust and safety team at the time of my Twitch suspension in 2020, then you would hope they would tell the truth, but apparently that's just too much to ask. If these former trust and safety team members — and by the way, I know exactly who they are — actually had firsthand knowledge, then what they conveniently left out is one, Twitch's trust and safety team, the same employees that decided to ban me, internally admitted that the Whisper messages were not sexting. And two, Twitch's trust and safety team, the same employees that decided to ban me, internally acknowledged that the Whispers did not constitute child sexual abuse material."
He went on, "I'll say it again: neither I nor the Twitch user exchanged any sexually graphic messages or images. Cody Conners and these other anonymous sources are trying to paint a picture that I was exchanging sexually explicit messages with this Twitch user. That never happened. I even used the word 'inappropriate,' purposely, and look at how it was defined by everyone, champs, huh? Including these defaming articles....We're talking about allegations that Twitch made against me as a half-baked reason for justifying their actions of suspending and shutting down my channel. Allegations that Twitch made without even a legal analysis of whether the whisper messages were illegal."
Ultimately, Beahm did not apologize, mocking the suggestion during the stream of releasing the messages he sent to the public, saying, "What are we in second grade?"
IGN has reached out to Twitch for comment. Beahm's YouTube channel remains demonetized, but he says that he plans to reapply on September 25.
As has been teased for several weeks now, Dr. Disrespect, who admitted to inappropriately contacting a minor, has returned to streaming on YouTube. With a lot of caveats.
Dr. Disrespect’s channel was demonetized by YouTube as all this was unfolding, and he says he wants to stay on YouTube, rather than move elsewhere. There were theories perhaps he’d find a home with Kick or Rumble, places that attract…controversial streamers, but that does not seem to have happened. He says he will reapply for monetization at the end of the month, but he can take donations and…people are donating.
This first return stream was watched by 230,000 people right when it launched. 30 minutes or so later that’s dropped to 160,000, and continues to fall. Though that’s still a huge amount. He has restricted chat to subscribers who have been subbed for 13 weeks, an incredibly long time and no doubt to curb those trying to bring up the allegations and his confession in the chat.
His new “explanation” this time is that he had a Twitch partner manager with a “grudge” who scraped those Twitch messages and sent them to Trust and Safety at Twitch, Twitch legal and others within the company with “out of context screenshots” which eventually did in fact lead to his ban. He says that Twitch Trust and Safety originally concluded the messages were not sexting or in violation of child exploitation federal laws, and he says he did not exchange graphic sexual messages or images with the minor, though Trust and Safety ended up banning him regardless.
He says the minor did not want to escalate things to Twitch. Law enforcement agencies determined “he did nothing wrong” and he won his case over the issue with Twitch. He says it was “just banter” after previously, in the deleted message, saying there were conversations with the minor which “leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate.” He claims that Twitch did not look at the age of consent where the messages were received, if that gives you a picture of the kind of technicalities he’s getting into. He made fun of people asking him to release the messages if they were not in fact inappropriate, something he mocked and said “what are we in second grade?"
There were no apologies. He is fully in character as Doc. He started with a game of Wordle and is now trying to get into the Black Ops 6 beta as I write this.
These current viewing numbers are inflated, given that no doubt many people simply wanted to see what he would say and what this first stream back would be like. But it’s clear he will have a loyal core of players which is of course, unsettling given that these aren’t just accusations, he admitted to inappropriately contacting a minor and this new explanation of “someone had a grudge and the age of consent where the messages were received is okay” is not exactly changing anything. But much of his crowd is back to “firm handshakes” and showering praise and adoration of “the Two-Time."
There is nothing preventing Doc from streaming unless he gets flat-out banned from YouTube, which could still happen. But monetization is another open question as nothing has changed since he was demonetized. He can get these donations, but sponsor deals have no doubt all evaporated for the foreseeable future. He was also kicked out of his own game development company.
His entire stream right now is him reading donations and fawning messages from his viewers. I do not recommend watching.
