During his first IRL Twitch stream on June 11th, Dr Disrespect lived up to his name by livestreaming from inside a public restroom at E3. The Doc faced some initial consequences, having his E3 badge revoked and Twitch channel suspended. After a short two week suspension, his channel is back.
Apparently chastened by his slap on the wrist, Guy Beahm, the actual human behind the loud, mustachioed character, has posted an apology on his personal Twitter account.
I'd like to talk about Dr Disrespect's Twitch ban from E3.Read: https://t.co/lxwclHxR9hJuly 1, 2019
In his apology, Beahm writes that he always attempts to be authentic in his edgy stream persona Dr Disrespect and that the pursuit of his character led to the questionable IRL locale.
"When we were walking around filming at E3, we clearly weren't thinking about the laws/repercussions of filming in the bathroom because honestly, it wasn't in our mind frame at the time. We were sort of 'all in' with the Doc livestream experience and capturing the E3 event through the character. We were so into the E3 IRL journey that we became a little blind in what's ok and what's not ok."
He then goes on to say he's taken time during the suspension from Twitch to reflect on the incident and its aftermath, followed closely by teasing the fact that he has projects in the works to "elevate the brand and gaming entertainment as a whole into the main stream space." Because it wouldn't be a real public apology without a sales pitch at the end.
To his (kind of) credit, Beahm doesn't outright gaslight anyone or attempt to suggest that what he did wasn't wrong, though this isn't the first time that the line between performer and performance felt way too thin. If you never take the mask off, you might just be The Mask, Guy.
Beahm closes his apology post with: "This incident was a step back, but like anything, we learn, become stronger, and move forward. If you follow the brand or myself, I hope you continue to stay with me on this vision."
