- A top gaming streamer admitted to sending messages to minors in 2017.
- That's why the Amazon-owned Twitch platform inexplicably banned him in 2020, Dr. Disrespect said.
- The brand partner and his own game studio severed ties.
Exactly four years ago today, one of the Amazon-owned Twitch's biggest stars was mysteriously banned from the video game streaming platform.
The company didn't reveal much about its reasons at the time, but the mysterious circumstances surrounding the ban have now come to light.
On Tuesday, that streamer, Guy Beam (better known by his “Dr. Disrespect” persona), explained why: In a shocking statement on X, Beam revealed that he had sent “sometimes inappropriate” messages to minors on Twitch in 2017.
“Was there whisper messaging with minors in 2017? The answer is yes,” Beam wrote, referring to the platform's direct messaging service, Whisper. “Was there real intent behind those messages? The answer is a firm no.”
The revelations sent shockwaves across the gaming industry and sparked swift reaction, with several companies cutting ties with the content creator, whose online streams of him playing games like “Call of Duty” have attracted millions of views.
Beam moved to YouTube after being banned by Twitch, but he never announced a formal streaming deal with the platform and has been a long-time critic of the platform.
Beam, 42, wears a dark mullet wig during livestreams and has adopted the bold persona of Dr. Disrespect as “the most ruthless and athletic competitor in the history of video games,” according to his Instagram profile.
So why is this only coming to light now?
Beam's statement admitting to messaging minors came days after a former Twitch employee said that an anonymous streamer, widely believed to be Beam, had been “caught sexting with a minor” and “was planning to meet up with her at TwitchCon,” a convention hosted by the Amazon-owned platform.
Days after the Twitch employee posted on social media, The Verge and Bloomberg each reported that Beam had been banned from the platform for messaging minors.
“Nothing illegal happened.”
In a statement, Beam denied being a predator or a pedophile.
“Nothing illegal was done, no photos were shared, no crime was committed and I have never even met the person,” he wrote.
Beam also said he had settled a civil lawsuit with Twitch over the ban. A Twitch spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment before publication.
The impact of the report and Beam's post spread quickly.
Midnight Society, the game development studio Beam co-founded in 2021, said Monday that it had severed its relationship with Beam after conducting its own investigation into the matter.
“If you are sending inappropriate messages to minors I cannot work with you,” Midnight Society studio head Ryan Bowling wrote to X.
In his own statement, Beam confirmed he was leaving The Midnight Society but vowed not to “disappear” and said he would return “with a weight lifted off his shoulders” after taking an extended break with his family.
Beam did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Former brand partners are keeping their distance
Since being banned from Twitch, Beam has been active on YouTube, where he boasts 4.7 million subscribers and streams games like “Elden Ring” and “Call of Duty: Warzone.”
YouTube did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
A spokesperson for CAA, the talent agency with which Beam signed in 2019, told Business Insider, “He is no longer our client, and has been for some time.”
Other brand partners began to distance themselves from Beam following his revelations.
Gaming headset maker Turtle Beach told IGN it would no longer be working with Beam, and a spokesperson for another former partner, the San Francisco 49ers, told Digiday that the company has no plans to work with Beam in the future.
