Dr Disrespect getting canceled for sending inappropriate messages to a minor, leading to his Twitch ban, is not stopping him from returning to streaming, but there’s an unanswered question that could leave him with a big decision to make very soon.
The streamer, real name Herschel ‘Guy’ Beahm, has seen his followers and subscribers dwindle during his “vacation” away from YouTube. At the worst point of the controversy, over 70,000 people walked away from his YouTube channel.
Our analysis has shown each time he has teased a comeback, negative posts about the guy have spiked much higher than the positive ones, setting up a first stream back that could potentially go either way for him.
He maintains there was no wrongdoing on his end and having been paid out in full on his Twitch contract, plans to continue streaming. Possibly not playing games, though.
Dr Disrespect sets streaming return date
On September 5, he posted a trailer for his return showing him on a speedboat arriving at the Arena. It confirmed September 6 is the next time he will go live.
There is, though, still an elephant in the room. A room full of elephants, you might argue, but there is one that is going to need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Where is Dr Disrespect going to stream?
As we know, Doc turned down a whopping $10 million contract to stream exclusively on KICK just weeks before the news came out about why Twitch banned him in June 2020.
Many will be anticipating his return to the ‘arena’ will be on YouTube, a channel that still has over 4.6 million subscribers. It is very likely that his September 6 stream will air on there.
However, it’s quite clear – unless something drastically changes on the streaming platform’s end – that this isn’t going to be as straightforward as turning on the stream and watching the cash pile up.
On June 28, following his admission that he did message a minor leading to the permaban, the former face of Twitch was completely demonetized on his main YouTube channel.
“We have suspended monetization on Dr Disrespect’s channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy,” a YouTube representative said at the time, citing the site’s guidelines for behavior on and off the platform.
Dr Disrespect has not confirmed where he will stream next. The presumption is YouTube, but for how long?
The guidelines state: “As a YouTube creator, you should remain responsible both on and off the platform. If we see that a creator’s on- and/or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem, we may take action to protect the community.”
To go from having a $10 million offer on the table to this in such a short space of time will have been a shock, as well as losing several partnerships and collaborations with brands. The squeeze on potential revenue streams posed by YouTube’s verdict – and others – is surely going to lead to Dr Disrespect exploring other options.
It might not happen right away and we are fully expecting him to remain on YouTube in the short-term, where many of his audience are waiting for a countdown. However, other options on the market have not ruled out becoming a potential home for the streamer. These include Rumble, Kick, and possibly even X (Twitter).
There may be an ensuing waiting game to see if he can keep up the numbers of old, from a viewership perspective, before any new deal advances. Advertising complications are another discussion entirely. But if the viewers keep rolling in and watching him after this controversy, there’s no doubt that a new home – with better paying terms – will be on the horizon.
He may decide to walk away from YouTube sooner than people think.