Streamer Dr Disrespect has been permanently banned from Twitch.
At the time of writing it’s unclear why Dr Disrespect has been removed from the streaming platform, and neither Twitch nor Dr Disrespect – whose real name is Guy Beahm – have responded to requests for clarification.
“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 representative told Polygon (opens in new tab). “These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community.”
Twitch would not, however, be drawn on what guidelines Beahm has been found to have breached, but sources (opens in new tab) reportedly close to the situation have quelled speculation that the action came as a result of DMCA takedowns.
Prior to his removal, Dr Disrespect had over four million followers on the streaming platform, as well as an exclusivity contract with Twitch. He has yet to formally comment on the decision on any of his social media channels.
Beahm is no stranger to controversy, of course. As Ford summarised recently, during E3 2019, Beahm had a cameraman following him around, live streaming his experience. He followed him inside the male bathrooms (opens in new tab) at the event while continuing to stream, which is against convention rules. He was subsequently suspended from Twitch and his E3 badge was revoked. (opens in new tab) , but two weeks later, his Twitch channel was reinstated.
In August last year, Musician Jimmy Wong called out Dr DisRespect (opens in new tab) for being outwardly racist on stream and performing caricatures of Chinese accents.
As Ford goes on to add, “the man behind the mask rarely, if ever, shows his true face. He’s often talked about thanks to being the subject of plenty of controversies”.
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