Streamer Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, one of the most popular gaming influencers on the internet, was banned from Twitch on Friday, the Amazon-owned company confirmed to ESPN.
Terms or length of the ban were not disclosed, although a report from independent esports journalist Rod Breslau on Twitter stated that Dr Disrespect’s ban was permanent and was not related to recent Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedowns for use of copyrighted music on Twitch. Dr Disrespect’s representation at Creative Artists Agency did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this week, Twitch and their CEO, Emmett Shear, released statements outlining actions they would take against platform users accused of sexual abuse, misogyny, hate speech and other forms of misconduct after more than 200 allegations of abuse in the gaming and esports communities surfaced online in the past 2½ weeks.
“As is our process, we take appropriate action when we have evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our community guidelines or terms of service,” a Twitch spokesperson told ESPN. “These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community.”
Dr Disrespect was previously suspended from Twitch for two weeks in June 2019 during an IRL (in real life) stream while roaming the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center. During that stream, Dr Disrespect walked into the men’s bathroom while the stream was active.
Over the past few years, Dr Disrespect has become one of the faces of Twitch, particularly after the departure of Tyler “Ninja” Blevins in August and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek in October to Microsoft-owned platform and Twitch competitor Mixer.
In March, Dr Disrespect signed a multiyear exclusive deal to remain with Twitch that reportedly would entitle him to millions of dollars per year. When Mixer closed earlier this week, it was reported that Ninja and Shroud both received guaranteed payment of their deals — roughly $30 million for Ninja and $10 million for Shroud, according to tweets from Breslau.
A former developer of Call of Duty at Activision Blizzard, Beahm coined the Dr Disrespect persona, a loud, brash, over-the-top character who wears a wig and sunglasses and sports a mustache and bulletproof vest while playing games such as Call of Duty, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and others.
In December, Dr Disrespect landed a deal to star in a TV show produced by Skybound Entertainment, the Hollywood production company led by “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman. He also created content starring WWE superstar The Undertaker, a rare appearance for that character outside of the WWE.
Credit: Source link