Dr Disrespect Twitch subs refunded, emoticons removed after ban

Reports of Dr Disrespect receiving a permanent ban from Twitch are looking to be true.

Numerous Twitch users have stated that their subscriptions to Dr Disrespect’s channel have been refunded and that Dr Disrespect-related emoticons have been removed from the platform. While this does not shed any new light on the specifics of what happened with Dr Disrespect and what led to his reported ban, it is a very bad sign for those hoping for a return to the platform.

On June 26 the Twitch channel of Dr Disrespect, real name Guy Beahm, was mysteriously shut down, with his page showing the ominous “unless you’ve got a time machine, that content is unavailable” error message. No further explanation was given and Dr Disrespect has not issued any public statements on the matter.

Later in the day, reporter Rod “Slasher” Breslau stated that Dr Disrespect’s ban from the platform was permanent. 

Dr Disrespect was previously banned from Twitch in 2019. During a live blog showing his touring the floor of E3, Dr Disrespect kept the camera rolling as he entered the bathroom. The bathroom was not cleared in advance, resulting in a number of people unknowingly having their trip to the restroom broadcasted to tens of thousands, and later viewed by many thousands more.

As a result of this gaffe, Dr Disrespect was ejected from E3 and received a 14-day ban from Twitch.

Why was Dr Disrespect banned from Twitch?

Dr Disrespect is one of the biggest names on Twitch and enjoys the sort of mainstream fame that few other streamers have managed to cultivate. That made reports of his permanent ban a shock in and around the streaming community, but so far there is no clear explanation as to why this happened.

Twitch released a statement after the ban saying that the company will “take appropriate action when we have evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community.”

It is not clear exactly what rule Dr Disrespect broke. The only other specific information made available thus far is a follow-up by Slasher in which he said that the ban was not related to any sort of DMCA claim.

Either way, signs are that Dr Disrespect won’t be back on Twitch any time soon.