Streamer Dr Disrespect has finally revealed details behind his long-standing Twitch ban while addressing his ‘haters’ in a lengthy social media statement.
Dr Disrespect - whose real name is Herschel ‘Guy’ Beahm IV - first found notoriety on YouTube before beginning his career on the popular streaming platform, Twitch.
The 42-year-old rapidly began to pick up popularity, signed sponsorship deals with Gillette and Game Fuel and soon became known for playing battle royale games from the Call of Duty franchise and Fortnite.
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However, in 2020, he was subsequently banned from Twitch and the Californian gamer’s channel was removed for a then-undisclosed reason.
The ban is thought to have taken place around the halfway mark of his two-year exclusivity contract with the company.
Due to the contract breach, Dr Disrespect went through a ‘lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with Twitch’ and the case was resolved by a settlement in 2021.
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However, on June 22, former Account Director of Strategic Partnership at Twitch, Cody Conners, alleged that the influencer had been banned because he ‘got caught sexting a minor in the then-existing Twitch Whispers product.’
Conners further claimed the man was ‘trying to meet up’ with the juvenile at TwitchCon - allegedly prompting Twitch to pull the plug on his channel.
Three days after the allegation was delivered, Dr Disrespect stepped down from Midnight Society Game Studio and has now taken to social media to confirm he was conversing with an ‘individual minor’ in 2017.
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Writing to his 2.5 million X followers, the live-streamer said he wanted to ‘cut the f****ng b*****it’ before assuring his fans he had always been ‘up front and real’ with them.
“I'm always willing to accept responsibility... which is why I'm here now,” he continued. “First and foremost I do want to apologize to everyone in my community as well as those close to me, my team, and everyone at Midnight Society Game Studio.”
The gamer then went on to explain that he had ‘painfully’ stepped down from Midnight Society - the game studio he co-founded - and that it was never his intention to ‘jeopardize the culture’ the team had ‘carefully crafted’.
He then went on to say that he wasn’t previously ‘allowed’ to release details regarding his Twitch ban but as a former employee had ‘publicly disclosed the accusations’ he could now tell his side of the story.
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“Were there Twitch Whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes,” he confirmed. “Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not.
“These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more.
“Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual.”
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He continued to tell his fans that a criminal case had never been brought against him but that he realised he should never have ‘entertained’ the conversations.
“I’ve seen all the remarks and labels being throw around so loosely. Social media is a destruction zone. I'm no f****ng predator or pedophile. Are you kidding me? Anyone that truly knows me f****ng knows where I stand on those things with those types of people. F**k that.
“That's a different level of disgust that I f****ng hate even hearing about. Don't be labeling me as the worst of the worst with your exaggerations. Get the f**k outta here with that s**t."
Dr Disrespect then used his statement to apologise to his community and industry friends who had supported him through the ordeal before delivering a stark warning to his ‘haters’.
“But trust me when I say this...to all my haters that live and breath social media with zero real life experience, I don't give a f**k about you.
“Finally, if you're uncomfortable with this entire statement and think I'm a piece of s**t, that's fine. But I'm not f****ng going anywhere.
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“I’m not the same guy that made this mistake all those years ago. I'm taking an extended vacation with my family as mentioned on stream and I'm coming back with a heavy weight off my shoulders.”
He concluded his statement by adding: “They want me to disappear... yeah f****ng right.”
Following Dr Disrespect’s lengthy social media statement - which has been viewed more than 70 million times - Midnight Society co-founder Robert Bowling broke his silence.
He typed to his 442,600 X followers: “This is a statement from me personally. It does not reflect any of my companies and has not gone through any legal or PR approvals.
“If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you. Period. I promised to only act on facts, and I did.”