My Favorite Streamer Is Banned, And We Don’t Know Why

Warning: the videos in this post will include NSFW language. 

I never thought I'd be down with watching other people play video games. As a kid, I couldn't wait for my turn on the NES, SEGA, or N64. But the first time I saw the man known as Dr. Disrespect play online, I was hooked. RIGHT AWAY.

He's know has Doc, The 2-time, Disrespect, The Doc, or his legal name Guy Beahm. For the purposes of this weird story, I will call him Doc. Over the last 5 years, Doc has risen from random game streamer to the face of his industry. He's appeared with ESPN, WWE, and recently signed a television deal with the company responsible for bringing The Walking Dead to TV.

Instead of going in depth on explaining who The Doc is, this video does a good job breaking down his origins...

Even if you skip the video, just know that Doc is a winner of a Streamer of the Year Award, has signed huge contracts for his stream, and has sponsors like Gillette, ASUS, Razer and Mt. Dew. He's really at the tippity top of the mountain.

Which makes the events of this past weekend increasingly weird.

The platform Doc plays on is called Twitch, its a video game streaming site owned by Amazon. During his Friday stream, Doc became visibly shaken, addressed the viewers, and cut his stream short. Here's the video:

Since this point, the next string of event have further confused everyone paying attention. Here's a little timeline:
- Streaming ban trackers post that Dr. Disrespect has been banned by Twitch.
- Twitch issues refunds to subscribers of Dr. Disrespect. The platform removes his account.
- Gaming "journalists" start to claim they know why Dr. Disrespect has been banned, and say its permanent.
- Sponsors (including Mt. Dew) start removing Dr. Disrespect from online campaigns.
- Gaming "journalists" continue to claim inside knowledge of the ban, but refuse to say what the ban is for
- Twitch issues very generic statement about their Terms of Service, which doesn't even include a reference to Dr. Disrespect.
- Dr. Disrespect posts a comment on Twitter, stating that Twitch has not even told him why he is banned.

So Jay Whatley and I spent all weekend trying to sort this out, chasing internet rumors and innuendo to try and figure out what happened. We chased leads of new streaming services that Doc could be going to, we chased the idea he'd been arrested, we chased everything we could. But nothing.

This is a big deal to me, because I've found myself in a similar spot as a lot of other people who have reached out to Doc in the past. Sometimes life gets tough, and you look for outlets, or ways to distract yourself. Sometimes you need distractions. For me, when I had some hard times, I seriously found joy in watching Dr. Disrespect online. I became a huge fan, even getting a large Dr. Disrespect decal for my car.

So for me, this is a big deal. I need to know what's going on, because it will mean immediate changes in my life. If the man who plays Dr. Disrespect is involved in some nefarious criminal activities, I need to know so I can make changes. The idea that this secret has survived for days already is scary. In the world of the internet, keeping secrets is hard to do, which makes me worried.