Guy Beahm, the streamer better known as Dr Disrespect, says he "didn't do anything wrong" and that he isn't going to comment further on an allegation made by an ex-Twitch employee who claims that Beahm's lifetime ban from Twitch was a consequence of sexual DMs with a minor.
Beahm was one of the biggest streamers on Twitch when he was suspended from the platform in June 2020. A reason for the ban was not provided—Twitch said only that it takes "appropriate action" when it has "evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service"—and at the time even Beahm claimed to not know why he'd been given the boot.
He was eventually informed of the reason, something he acknowledged a year later when he announced he was taking legal action against Twitch. That lawsuit was settled in 2022, with neither party admitting wrongdoing and, still, no indication of the reason for the ban.
And so it has remained until this past weekend, when former Twitch employee Cody Conners tweeted, "He got banned because got caught sexting a minor in the then existing Twitch whispers product. He was trying to meet up with her at TwitchCon. The powers that be could read in plain text. Case closed, gang."
Conners didn't name Beahm specifically, but it was widely understood he was referring to Beahm, an assumption that quickly picked up steam after streamer Jake Lucky tweeted about it, prompting a reply from Beahm. "Jake seriously," Beahm tweeted. "I get it, it's a hot topic but this has been settled, no wrongdoing was acknowledged and they paid out the whole contract."
That comment only led to more intense speculation, with many onlookers pointing out that "no wrongdoing was acknowledged" isn't a direct denial of the claim. The following day, Beahm made a somewhat more specific statement.
"Listen, I'm obviously tied to legal obligations from the settlement with Twitch but I just need to say what I can say since this is the fucking internet," he tweeted. "I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid."
A day later, The Verge reported that another former Twitch employee, a member of the company's Trust and Safety team at the time of the incident, had corroborated Conners' tweet, telling the site that Beahm had used Twitch's Whispers messaging system to attempt to arrange a meeting with a minor at TwitchCon.
During a livestream today, Beahm indicated that he won't be commenting further.
"For those that are looking for me to expand on this weekend, not gonna," he said. "I already said what I needed to say. I don't give a fuck about this guy. That's it."
Conners had previously alluded to being aware of the reasons for Beahm's Twitch ban in 2023: Lucky noted in a subsequent tweet that Conners had used a promise of possibly sharing that information to promote a series of concerts in 2023. Conners apologized for those tweets but also noted that he has not been threatened with legal action over his allegations and implied that a screenshot proving his claim is now in circulation.
The allegations have also prompted others to say they've heard similar explanations for Beahm's lifetime ban from Twitch. Former Washington Post journalist Nathan Grayson, for instance, tweeted, "This is not the first time I have heard basically this explanation. nor is it the second, or third." He noted that all his sources are second-hand, and "were not in the room when it happened."
The DramaAlert Twitter feed also noted that a similar claim was made two months prior to Conners' tweet by TinyChat cofounder Dan Saltman during an interview on Kick with the streamer Destiny, who was himself issued a lifetime ban by Twitch in 2022.
With no first-hand account of the alleged incident, and no admission of wrongdoing from Beahm or acknowledgment of the situation from Twitch—I've reached out to the company for comment—the circumstances surrounding Dr Disrespect's lifetime ban remain uncertain, but the allegation has led to consequences. Midnight Society, a game studio co-founded by Beahm, has severed ties with the streamer, and he says he may take an extended "vacation" from streaming.
