Popular streamer Dr Disrespect, real name Guy Beahm, has addressed allegations he sexted with a minor on Twitch's private message service in 2017, which led to his ban from the platform in 2020.
In an extensive statement shared on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the streamer apologized to his community, friends, and the team at Midnight Society Game Studio, the video game developer he co-founded. "Were there Twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes," he wrote, explaining that he only addressed the situation because two former Twitch employees alleged he was banned in 2020 for sexting a minor on the platform.
"Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not," he continued. "These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more. Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual. I went through a lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with Twitch and that case was resolved by a settlement. Let me be clear, it was not a criminal case against me and no criminal charges have ever been brought against me."
Dr Disrespect wrote that he will "take responsibility" for the "inappropriate" messages, but denied some of the accusations flying around.
"I'm no fucking predator or pedophile. Are you kidding me?" he wrote. "Anyone that truely knows me fucking knows where I stand on those things with those types of people. Fuck that. That's a different level of disgust that I fucking hate even hearing about. Don't be labeling me as the worst of the worst with your exaggerations. Get the fuck outta here with that shit."
His statement comes not long after Midnight Society announced that it had terminated its relationship with the streamer, who moved to YouTube after he was banned from Twitch.
"On Friday evening we became aware of an allegation against one of our co-founder’s Guy Beahm aka Dr Disrespect," Midnight Society said in a statement. "We assumed his innocence and began speaking with parties involved. And in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals, we needed to act. For this reason, we are terminating our relationship with Guy Beahm immediately."
Former Twitch employee Cody Conners, who was the account director of strategic partnership at the Amazon-owned streaming platform, alleged last week that an unnamed streamer was banned because he was "caught sexting a minor" and was "trying to meet up with her at TwitchCon." Dr Disrespect was not named outright, but many assumed it was him because when he was banned from the platform he suggested he was "not notified ... on the specific reason behind [the ban]."
He filed a lawsuit against Twitch after his ban, which was settled in March 2022.
