More details have emerged about Twitch’s 2020 ban of streamer Guy “Doctor Disrespect” Beahm.
Beahm started making headlines again last week, when Twitch’s former account director (strategic partnerships) Cody Conners said that an unnamed individual was banned from the streaming platform after sending sexually explicit messages to a minor. Later reports confirmed that the person Connors was referring to was indeed Beahm, which many already suspected.
Now, a former Twitch employee — who has chosen to remain anonymous — has pointed out Rolling stone The minors had told Beahm that they were underage, and Beahm continued to send them “sexually explicit” messages despite this.
“I remember during the conversation Dr Disrespect was told by the person that they were underage, after which he said it was no problem and continued the conversation,” the former employee told the publication, adding that “there was no confusion.”
He added: “The messages sent after this admission were no less explicit and sexually explicit in nature than those before, and I think that indicates far more than the classification of ‘leaning heavily towards being inappropriate’ would suggest.”
Later in the conversation, the former employee spoke further about Twitch’s decision to ban Dr Disrespect. “After viewing the content of the Whisper conversation, it was immediately clear how serious the conduct was and what action Twitch should take,” he said. “Due to the severity of the behavior, the decision to permanently terminate Beahm was made relatively quickly.”
He also said that after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced in 2020, Twitch created an incident response team codenamed Gold Sparrow to address concerns. He said, “We wanted to be able to process the growing number of investigations faster and with more resources, while providing as much support as possible to victims.”
Since Connor’s initial post last week (which Rolling Stone’s source said “inspired others to come forward with information”), Beahm has been dropped from Midnight Society, the game development studio he co-founded in 2021. Other partnerships, including Turtle Beach, have also dropped the streamer. NBA 2K24, and the San Francisco 49ers,
YouTubeIn the meantime, monetization on Beahm’s channel has been suspended. Reports today suggest that Beahm was not offered a contract on YouTube due to the circumstances of his ban on Twitch.
earlier this week, Beahm released a statement on the social media platform XHe admitted to sending messages to a minor that he “tried to present as normal, mutual conversations that at times leaned heavily toward being inappropriate.”
