Four years after gamer celebrity and streaming star Dr Disrespect, 42, was banned from Twitch for undisclosed reasons, reports emerged this week that he had allegedly used the Amazon-owned platform’s direct messaging feature to send sexually explicit texts to a minor. Now, the internal response to those alleged conversations — long a subject of rumor and speculation — is finally coming to light. In June 2020, there was a #MeToo reckoning within the gaming community, with dozens in the industry leveling more than 70 allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against high-profile streamers, esports broadcasters, and game developers.
Twitch responded to the outcry on June 21, 2020, promising to take strong and immediate action on credible allegations against their creators. “We take accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct extremely seriously,” the company said in a statement . “We are actively looking into the accounts concerning streamers affiliated with Twitch and will work with law enforcement where applicable.
” Guy Beahm, a.k.a.
Dr Disrespect, a flamboyant game personality and one of the most popular creators on Twitch, with 4 million followers at the time, was permanently banned from the platform five days later. Renowned for playing battle royale shoot-em-up games in character as a kind of alpha jock sporting a thick mustache and mullet wig, he had signed a major multiyear deal with the company that March. Commenting on his lifetime suspension, Twit.
