EDIT: Dr Disrespect has made a full statement regarding the ban.
Twitch abruptly permabanned one of its biggest names (Guy Beahm a.k.a. Dr Disrespect) from their platform back in 2020 without explanation. Four years later, two former Twitch employees have now spoken up, alleging that he was banned for sexting with a minor through the Twitch Whispers app and attempting to meet up with her at TwitchCon.
This came two years after a settled lawsuit between Twitch and Beahm, where neither party admitted to any wrongdoing, and his contract was paid.
Other notes and links:
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The Twitter post made by former Twitch employee, Cody Conners (@evoli)
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Esports journalist Rod “Slasher” Breslau (@slasher), who previously tweeted that he had been told by ‘credible sources’ about why Beahm was banned, but couldn’t say anything due to the sensitivity of the subject, has also corroborated what Cody Conners confirmed.
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The other former Twitch employee who spoke to the Verge asked to remain anonymous.
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Response from Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) via Twitter denying any wrongdoing.
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Midnight Society (@12am) announcing on Twitter that they have cut all ties with Dr Disrespect following these allegations. This is an indie game studio that the Doc was a co-founder of.
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Turtle Beach have seemingly dropped their partnership with Dr Disrespect. All of his branded merch has been removed from their website.
So he was messaging a minor and Twitch just got him off their platform and nothing more happened? No repercussions for what he was allegedly doing from a legal standpoint?
Twitch probably doesn’t care beyond reputational damage/liability.
In fact it sounds like Twitch made an effort to keep it quiet, which was successful until these former employees spoke out (hope they don’t suffer consequences)
Edit to add: Which is not to say there couldn’t be separate consequences. It’s just not going to come from Twitch. I’m sure a certain three letter agency is quite a bit more interested in Beahm now.
If Twitch helped to cover up a criminal act, they’d be opening themselves up to liability. Especially since they supposedly provide the product used for the communication AND apparently knew about it.
The simpler answer is, the reality isn’t as simple as the tweet makes it out to be. Twitch may have thought/known the user was a minor based off internal-only information, like previous messages, account information, etc. not anything in the conversation with Doc. In that case Doc would not have known they were a minor, and thus his actions would not have been illegal, and it would not be a story at all if Twitch reached out to advise Doc that the user was a minor… instead Twitch acted unilaterally and essentially burned the contract in the process. That would fit the same “facts” we’ve been told from all parties, but with a vastly different context that also matches the lack of criminal liability.
Without seeing correspondace hard to tell…
Also many state age of consent is 16… So if no nudes, there is really nothing illegal about it.
Just looks pathetic
Most of the times when people get busted for “chatting” to kids online, it’s because the child is actually a law enforcement officer who has gotten the person to admit their intent in a way that isn’t legally questionable.
Even if twitch reported the allegations to law enforcement, it’s unlikely any prosecutor is going to bring up charges on a famous/wealthy person unless they have an open and shut case. Which is really rare outside of sting operations.
I still don’t understand why Twitch would pay up in that case.
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Eh, it could be a multitude of reasons. It could be that they just had a bad contract. Even if there is a morality clause, how that morality clause is enacted may be dependent on actual charges being filed.
It is possible they had a reasonable concern about the situation, but it wasn’t drastic enough for them to legally terminate the contract. Wanting to save face in this scenario isn’t exactly too hard to imagine considering their demographics.
Or it could be that it was simply cheaper to pay the rest of the contract than it would to arbitrate in court. Or they may have feared themselves being further implicated during a proceeding if someone at twitch enabled or tried to cover it up.
Really, it could be just about anything.
If what he did wasnt illegal, then no.
So what would he do that’s not illegal but bad enough to get banned? What would he do that would also explain why people are saying he was messaging minors for a meet up? Why would Twitch pay out the contract?
Twitch is a private platform, they could ban him for whatever reason they wanted.
Disney dropped Johnny Depp because of the Amber Heard thing, but what did he do to deserve that? Twitch dropping Dr. Disrespect was probably entirely about optics.
I don’t know anything about him, I don’t watch him or anything. But if he did break the law, he absolutely would have been arrested. AFAIK, sexual assault/misconduct or whatever with a minor doesn’t have a stipulation that the minor can choose to not press charges, thats up to the prosecuting attorney. They almost always press charges, and they should. So if something illegal did infact take place, he would have been arrested.