Dr Disrespect Returns to Streaming to Angrily Deny That He Sent Explicit Messages or Images to a Minor - IGN

Guy Beahm, popularly known as Dr Disrespect, came back to YouTube to strongly refute accusations that he sent inappropriate texts or photos to a young person. He stated that he wasn't supposed to be barred from Twitch and referred to the messages as just friendly teasing. He also argued that the person in question was actually of legal age.

Beahm was very upset when he talked about the accusations of sending inappropriate messages on the Whispers platform. He criticized the media for reporting on the claims and said it was all planned to attack him. He also said that Cody Conners, a former Twitch employee who first revealed the reasons for Beahm's ban, was not really part of the situation. Beahm used strong language to say the matter was dealt with in a professional way. (Note: Conners worked briefly at IGN in 2011).

"You're clueless and it was clear from your tweet," Beahm stated. "You had no direct information about my argument with Twitch. You claimed I was banned from Twitch for sending inappropriate messages to a minor through Whispers? Do you even understand the legal meaning of sexting? I do. I did use Twitch's Whispers, but I wasn't sending inappropriate messages to anyone."

He continued to reject the claim that he had a meeting with the person he messaged at TwitchCon. "Let me be clear: I never planned to meet this user. We never arranged a meeting at TwitchCon or anywhere else, and in reality, we never came face to face."

Beahm spoke on his first live video since June, which was on YouTube called "The Truth." He addressed allegations that he was banned from Twitch for sending inappropriate messages to a minor through Whispers in 2020. A former employee of Twitch confirmed to Rolling Stone in June that there was no confusion about the explicit nature of the messages, even after they were acknowledged as inappropriate.

In a post on X/Twitter, Beahm admitted that the messages did happen, but he insisted that he is not a predator and that nothing illegal took place. He was removed from Midnight Society, the studio he helped create, shortly after Conners made her allegations public on X/Twitter. The post has since been removed.

In response to the article from Rolling Stone, Beahm stated that the information was based on leaks from two ex-Twitch workers, one of which was said to be on the trust and safety team. If these unidentified sources were part of the trust and safety team during my suspension in 2020, you would expect them to speak the truth, but it seems that's too much to ask for. If these former team members – who I know exactly who they are – actually had first-hand information, what they forgot to mention was that Twitch's trust and safety team themselves admitted internally that the Whisper messages were not sexually explicit. Also, Twitch's trust and safety team acknowledged internally that the Whispers were not considered child sexual abuse material.

Beahm said that neither he nor the person who received the messages were questioned, and that the situation was not given to law enforcement. He accused his previous partner manager at Twitch, whom he did not identify, of playing a role in his ban.

He continued, "Let me repeat: there was no exchange of sexually explicit messages or images between myself and the Twitch user. Cody Conners and others are spreading rumors that I engaged in inappropriate communication with this Twitch user, but that simply isn't true. I specifically used the word 'inappropriate' to describe the messages, and yet it has been twisted by various sources to make it seem worse than it really is. These accusations stem from Twitch's attempt to justify their decision to suspend and close my channel, without even conducting a proper legal review of the messages in question."

In the end, Beahm refused to apologize and made fun of the idea of sharing the messages he sent to the public during the stream. He sarcastically asked, "Are we acting like children?"

IGN has contacted Twitch for a statement. Beahm's YouTube channel is still not eligible to earn money, but he intends to apply again on September 25th.

Kat Bailey is the News Director at IGN and also co-hosts the podcast Nintendo Voice Chat. Do you have a tip to share? Feel free to send her a direct message on Twitter at @the_katbot.