YouTube has officially suspended monetization on the channel of Guy Beahm, the popular streamer known as Dr Disrespect, amid continuing reports surrounding his 2020 ban from Twitch and his alleged sexually explicit messages to a minor.
“We have suspended DrDisrespect’s channel from the YouTube Partner Program following serious allegations against the creator,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to IGN. “This action means the channel is no longer able to monetize on YouTube.”
YouTube added that it took the action on Beahm’s channel “for violating our Creator Responsibility policy.” The policy, as the spokesperson notes, means that if a creator’s off-platform behavior “harms our users, employees, or ecosystem, we may take action to protect our community, including by suspending monetization.” The creator is also unable to create new or alternate channels while their current channel is suspended from the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube’s confirmation comes after several on social media pointed out on Thursday evening that Beahm’s channel no longer had monetization features available, including paid memberships. It also follows a week of continuous new details surrounding the circumstances of Beahm’s ban from Twitch in 2020.
Last Friday, former Twitch employee Cody Conners wrote in a post on X/Twitter that Beahm was banned from the streaming platform almost exactly four years ago for “sexting” a minor via Twitch’s Whispers feature and trying to meet up with them at TwitchCon (Disclosure: Conners worked briefly at IGN in 2011). While Conners didn’t mention Beahm by name, reports in The Verge and Bloomberg confirmed that he was indeed referring to the popular streamer, corroborating Conners’ account and providing further details.
The most recent report came earlier on Thursday via Rolling Stone, in which another former Twitch employee told the outlet that Beahm knew the minor he was messaging was underage, and continued to send them sexually explicit messages anyway. The report also quoted Ryan Wyatt, former global head of gaming partnerships at Google, who said that YouTube Gaming didn’t offer a contract to Beahm due to the rumors surrounding his Twitch ban.
For his part, Beahm issued a lengthy statement on the allegations on X/Twitter on Tuesday, admitting that he did message a minor via Twitch Whispers in 2017, and that those messages “sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate.” He added, however, that “nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed,” and also pointed to his 2021 lawsuit against Twitch over the ban, which was resolved in 2022.
Twitch has remained silent on the revelations in recent days despite multiple requests for comment. Today’s statement marks the first public comment on the situation from YouTube, where Beahm has streamed for the last several years. Beahm last streamed on Monday, where he noted he would be taking an extended vacation, but said in his statement on Tuesday that he would return.
While it’s rare for YouTube to take such de-monetization actions against a large channel like Beahm’s, it’s not unprecedented. Previously, the platform has applied the policy on channels of other popular creators including Russell Brand, David Dobrik, and James Charles.
The suspension is only the latest in the continuing fallout in response to the allegations surrounding Beahm and his ban from Twitch. Previously, partners and sponsors like Turtle Beach, 2K, and the San Francisco 49ers cut ties with the streamer, and Midnight Society, the game studio Beahm co-founded, also terminated its relationship with him.
Thumbnail credit: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.