Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm, one of the most controversial figures in games, is teasing his return via YouTube. His channel went live on Thurdsday, August 6, around 4 p.m. Eastern time. After 23 hours of minimal activity, Beahm finally appeared on screen and in character.
When he began interacting with chat, roughly 483,162 viewers had tuned in. That number eventually crossed the half-million mark while he was playing Call of Duty: Warzone.
According to reporting by IGN, “Beahm does not have any exclusive deal with YouTube, and plans to ‘experiment’ with other platforms, including Facebook Gaming and his own Champions Club website.”
Upon being banned from Twitch’s livestreaming platform back in June, Beahm issued a brief statement on Twitter. “Twitch has not notified me on the specific reason behind their decision,” he said. “Firm handshakes to all for the support during this difficult time.”
The Doc’s Twitch ban came just days after dozens of women in the video-game industry came forward with allegations of abuse and harassment. In a lengthy interview with PC Gamer, Beahm was asked whether — to his knowledge — he’d been accused of abuse, assault, or harassment.
“Listen,” he said, “I’m not interested in engaging crazy speculation. I’ve seen all the theories, I’ve seen all the possible conspiracies, and it’s just like — I’m just not interested in engaging that type of stuff. I have a great community of loyal fans, and I’m totally focused on getting back and delivering great, entertaining content. And that’s where the focus is.”
PC Gamer also asked whether the ban might have had anything to do with Beahm’s on-stream discussion of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience related to the coronavirus. This prompted an interruption from Beahm’s publicist, who said: “We don’t know why Twitch banned him, and there is no formal warnings or reprimand on record. That’s all legal is going to let him say.”