DrDisrespect, known as Herschel “Guy” Beahm IV, was an rising star who signed a multi-year exclusive contract with the livestream platform in March 2020. However, Twitch banned the streamer permanently in June 2020. To this day, it is not known why he was banned from the platform, but DrDisrespect was clear: he had to continue on YouTube. MeinMMO reports on the career of the streamer and how he is doing today.
This is how DrDisrespect’s career began: In 2010, the Doc posted his first video on YouTube, where he played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Already at that time, he took on the role of DrDisrespect and appeared in his usual guise.
A black mullet wig, his prominent mustache, and striking sunglasses were from the beginning the hallmark of DrDisrespect. Nowadays, a tight dark top and a red vest or overalls are also part of it – his recognizability is unmatched.
His Twitch channel was also launched in 2010, where he began to stream shooters and appear as the Doc. Many viewers celebrated his striking persona and humor, which quickly gained him some traction. However, in the following years, he only produced irregular content due to needing to fulfill a job in the gaming industry.
From Community Manager to Celebrated Twitch Star
What happened next? In March 2011, Beahm was appointed Community Manager at the well-known studio Sledgehammer Games. Sledgehammer Games is responsible for the “Call of Duty” series and recently released the shooter Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021). Shortly after, Beahm was promoted to Level Designer.
While he was playing CoD: MW2 in his videos and streams in 2010, he actively collaborated on the sequel Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and created multiplayer maps for the shooter.
However, his career at Sledgehammer Games ended in 2015. It is unclear whether DrDisrespect made that decision himself or if it was decided for him. In any case, he decided, whether voluntarily or out of necessity, to become a full-time streamer on Twitch.
That was a risky step back then: DrDisrespect had just had a child with his wife and they lived in a difficult neighborhood, from where they could see drug dealing happening outside their window. DrDisrespect recounted in 2019 on Twitch that he was looking for a job in the gaming industry in 2015 but was unable to find one with his resume. So he decided, together with his wife, to “dive fully into streaming.”
From then on, things took off steeply.
What do the numbers say?
- 2016: Average viewers – 2,050
- 2017: Average viewers – 18,166
- 2018: Average viewers – 22,991
- 2019: Average viewers – 21,661
- 2020: Average viewers – About 26,000 from January to June, until his ban
In 2017, however, DrDisrespect took a two-month break due to making a serious mistake.
Return Gave Him Insane Viewer Record
What mistake was it? As the Doc himself announced, he was unfaithful to his wife in 2017. In tears, he reported in a stream without disguise that he made a mistake and wanted to care for his family. The drama created waves and brought him nearly 400,000 new followers on Twitch.
Whether DrDisrespect and his wife “Mrs Assassin” are still married today is not known, as he prefers to keep his private life as private as possible. You can see the excerpt of his confession here:
Return Gave DrDisrespect Viewer Record: When he returned on February 5, 2018, 363,980 people watched him. The most viewers the Doc has ever had on his Twitch channel.
Permanent Ban from Twitch Forced DrDisrespect to Stream on YouTube
What happened after his record? The Doc became one of the most recognized faces on Twitch. 50,333 subscribers was the number the streamer could boast during his peak – a high number by the standards of the time. Additionally, he amassed over 4.4 million followers on Twitch.
Games like H1Z1, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, or PUBG helped him further increase his popularity. However, Beahm was never regarded as a shooting professional, but rather as a crazy entertainer.
According to his own statements, he was at that time “THE face of Twitch.”
In March 2020, it was finally time: DrDisrespect signed a likely multi-million dollar multi-year contract with Twitch, after the livestream platform Mixer poached many other well-known streamers. He celebrated his stay on Twitch with his viewers and everything seemed perfect for him.
However, he was permanently banned from the livestream platform in June 2020 – and that until today. The ban remains a mystery even in 2022. Neither Twitch nor the Doc has revealed why he was banned; there were only hot rumors and plenty of wild theories.
By mid-July 2020, it was clear to DrDisrespect, that he would not return to Twitch. He then switched to YouTube for his streams. A familiar platform for him because he had already been using it with videos for years. So he did not start completely without an audience – quite the opposite.
Over 500,000 viewers followed the return of streamer DrDisrespect. A new viewer record for Beahm. The return brought him over 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube and several thousand dollars in donations. Even in the years that followed, he gained 20,000-80,000 subscribers monthly.
This is how DrDisrespect is doing on YouTube in 2022
How is the Doc doing today? DrDisrespect has been streaming on YouTube for two years now, but according to him, it is considerably more work than on Twitch. He has to call his team to check algorithms, set keywords, and hashtags. On Twitch, you could just go live, watch series, and be successful.
However, if we go by the numbers, the effort speaks for itself; according to statistics, Beahm is now watched by more people than before on Twitch. Between 25,000 and 40,000 viewers currently follow his streams on YouTube, which is significantly more than during his Twitch days.
Is he really doing better? Numerically maybe, but he has noted in past streams that he is personally doing worse on YouTube and that the ban affects him. Everything he had built on Twitch over the years disappeared suddenly. He is on some companies’ blacklist, and the Doc has lost many opportunities since his ban.
He says he is doing financially well on YouTube, but not nearly as well as he did on Twitch: Apparently, he is missing both the lucrative exclusive contract and the sponsorship deals he received while on Twitch.
Beahm even set himself the goal of suing Twitch in 2022 to achieve a lifting of the ban and a substantial compensation (via Twitter). However, neither party yielded, and on March 10, DrDisrespect announced on Twitter that he is now putting this chapter behind him.
What are his current plans? In December 2021, he announced a competitor to CoD Warzone and Apex Legends: his own AAA studio called “Midnight Society”. Leading the studio with him are other CoD and Halo veterans, and they mainly want to focus on multiplayer games. However, the studio is currently looking for additional developers and is still in the process of being built.
Moreover, he wants to enter the bourbon business and release a music album. Additionally, he streams about three times a week on YouTube and diligently uploads new videos to his channel.
Whether DrDisrespect can truly leave the Twitch ban behind or if he still struggles with it in silence is unclear. On YouTube, he continues to play the macho gamer with a strong self-esteem and loud voice, while playing the next shooter:
DrDisrespect wants to build an AAA studio – makes the dumbest rookie mistake for an NFT game
