Herschel Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect, is arguably one of the internet’s most recognisable streamers, despite the fact that he’s no longer even allowed on the biggest streaming platform.
His permanent ban from Twitch happened back in June 2020, and to this day, people still aren’t entirely sure what happened. Last year, he claimed to know the reason for his ban, and was suing the platform as a result, but a couple of months back, it was announced that the legal dispute had been settled, with neither party admitting wrongdoing. That said, he’s still not returned to the platform, so he’s presumably still banned.
Before we get into it, be sure to take a look at some of the funniest livestream wins and fails right here.
This ban continues to manifest itself in really bizarre ways, apparently, because last week, a $100,000 Fortnite tournament hosted by Dr Disrespect himself had other Twitch streamers jumping through hoops to avoid getting in trouble. As reported by IGN (and first shared by @JakeSucky on Twitter), an in-house statement posted by tournament organisers BoomTV advised that anyone taking part should avoid mentioning Dr Disrespect by name, despite him being the host.
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“It is prohibited to use your channel to knowingly feature or advertise a suspended user,” the statement reads. “We understand that there may be instances where suspended users may appear on your stream due to circumstances beyond your control, such as through third-party gaming tournaments, but we expect that you make a good faith effort to remove them from your broadcast, mute them, or otherwise limit their interactions with your stream.”
A few tips for streamers were listed to help them “navigate the tournament”, which included referring to the event as the “Hot Shot Duo Drop featuring Fortnite”, hiding images of Dr Disrespect from their streams, and most bafflingly, using “other names for Dr Disrespect, [for] example the ‘two-time’, ‘Blockbuster video game champion’”.
It’s worth keeping in mind that these rules weren’t laid out by Twitch themselves, but it just goes to show how harshly the tournament organisers expected that the Amazon-owned streaming platform could respond had Dr Disrespect essentially been given a way back onto any streams. This could also be something to do with the legal dispute settlement, but chances are, we’ll never know those details for sure.