Nearly six weeks after he was abruptly banned from Twitch, Dr Disrespect looks set to make his return at rival YouTube.
An Instagram live post from Doc (real name Herschel “Guy” Beahm) indicated a return to streaming that could take place as early as today. So far, he hasn’t streamed any gameplay but did release a short music video called Red Skies where, in character, Beahm repeatedly sang (or lip-synced to) the line, “I don’t even know why I try anymore.”
The return, if it does happen, is likely to raise more questions than answers.
Beahm’s sudden removal from Twitch sparked a wildfire of speculation in the video game community as people tried to determine what had caused the falling out between the company and its biggest star. In March, Beahm signed a “life-changing, rewarding” two-year deal with Twitch that was estimated to be worth millions of dollars. By late June, he was off the platform — and neither party would say much about why.
Beahm initially said he wasn’t told a specific reason for the action. Twitch repeatedly has refused to comment, though the action came two days after the company announced it “will begin issuing permanent suspensions” following “recent allegations of sexual abuse and harassment involving Twitch streamers.”
Beahm recently added a “Join” button to his YouTube channel, letting viewers sign up for his $5 per month “Champion’s Club.” So far, neither Doc nor YouTube has made announcements about his return to the platform.
Dr. Disrespect just went live on insta and this is what happened #drdisrepect pic.twitter.com/4wd6kyYrcy
— Beavs (@ImBeavs) August 6, 2020
Dr Disrespect is a wildly popular streamer, who has signed multimillion-dollar sponsorships and television development deals. But he’s an extremely divisive online presence. In 2019, he found himself ejected from E3 and banned from Twitch after livestreaming from the bathroom, violating Twitch’s privacy rules and California privacy laws. He apologized in a tweet several weeks later and was allowed back onto Twitch after a two-week suspension.
The Dr. Disrespect character strives to parody toxic gamers by holding up a figurative mirror. He has trash-talked about other streamers and made numerous racially insensitive jokes to non-English speaking groups. He even confessed to infidelity in an out-of-character stream two years ago (ultimately taking two months off to focus on his family).
Controversy lures viewers in the streaming world, though. Before confessing his marital problems in 2017, he boasted 1.4 million followers. Before the E3 incident, he had 3.2 million. When he went off the air at Twitch, he had roughly 4.4 million followers.
His YouTube subscriber count has been soaring as word of his possible return has spread. As of 4 p.m. ET, he had 1.81 million subscribers on the platform.
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