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Deadrop developer Midnight Society cuts ties with Dr Disrespect following new Twitch ban allegationsCelebrity streamer insists that “I didn’t do anything wrong”
Celebrity streamer insists that “I didn’t do anything wrong”
Image credit:DrDisrespect
Image credit:DrDisrespect
Deadropdevelopers Midnight Society have “terminated” their relationship with studio co-founder and celebrity streamer Herschel “Guy” Beahm, aka “Dr Disrespect”, over fresh allegations about the reasons for his infamous Twitch ban in 2020.
At the time of the ban, which came just a few months after Beahm and Twitch announceda two-year exclusivity contract, Twitchcommented onlythat Beahm had been jettisoned for acting “in violation of our Community Guidelines”. Beahm himself described the move as “a total shock” in a later conversation with theWashington Post. In August 2021, hetook Twitch to court over the ban, but the dispute was eventuallysettledwith neither party admitting any wrongdoing.
As to why it’s taken Conners this long to make the allegations, he posteda rather elliptical commentjust yesterday suggesting that “the information had been so normalized, declawed in the circles that I ran in that could be reduced to allusion and entendre.
“For everyone who has since said “that’s fucked” — I agreed with you on Friday night before you wrote it,” Conners went on. “I should have agreed with you sooner.”
Beahm hasn’t yet addressed these latest claims about his behaviour, beyondtweeting last weekthat “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. I didn’t do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid.”
Beahm’s and Conners' statements have, as you’d expect, been the subject of much discussion on social media. Responding to this, Beahm told viewers of a Twitch stream yesterday (viaEurogamer) that he needed to take a “step back” from his work at Midnight Society. “I mean I’m gonna have to relay this to the Midnight Society, but, you know, maybe I step away from there too,” he said. “Just completely remove myself from the scene. It’s what I need to do.”
Shortly after that stream, The Midnight Societyran a statement of their ownacknowledging the allegation, and declaring that they would part ways with Beahm “in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals” following an internal inquiry. Here it is in full:
On Friday evening we became aware of an allegation against one of our co-founder’s Guy Beahm aka Dr Disrespect.
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.
While these facts are difficult to hear and even more difficult to accept, it is our duty to act with dignity on behalf of all individuals involved, especially the fifty-five developers and families we have employed along with our community of players.
I’ve mailed a representative of Beahm to ask for comment about Midnight Society’s statement.
Back in 2020 around the time of Beahm’s ban, there wasa wave of revelations about abuse, manipulation and predatory behaviouron the part of streamers and influencers across Twitch and Youtube, alongside a few developers or journalists. In September 2022, Twitch was the subject of aBloombergreport into cases of child grooming, following which the platform holderannounced plansto improve safety measures, including better moderation and “expanding the signals” for catching and blocking users who are younger than 13.
