Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm launched his first Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree livestream on Monday with a glitzy intro and lots of theatrics. Just a few hours later he decided to call it quits, however, saying he was burnt out on streaming and would be logging off indefinitely. The sudden shift recalled his last-ever stream on Twitch before being preeminently banned, and came right after the video game studio he co-founded publicly cut ties with him after investigating recent allegations about his past conduct.
“When shit like this happens over the weekend it’s like how many times can I…,” he said three hours into the stream. “Like I’m actually tired of being on social media and I’ve expressed that over the years champs, I’ve always kind of hinted like ‘Oh, it’d be nice to log off and just go live in Costa Rica or something.’ But I’m just feeling burnt out I think, you know.”
Beahm was referring to allegations made by a former Twitch employee, Cody Conners, about why the controversial streamer was originally banned from Twitch back in 2020. ““He got banned because got caught sexting a minor in the then-existing Twitch Whispers product. He was trying to meet up with her at TwitchCon,” Conners tweeted. The Verge followed up with a report corroborating that Beahm used Twitch’s messaging system to talk with a minor and try to get her to meet up with him at TwitchCon.
Beahm has so far not addressed the claims directly, but tweeted more generally that “I didn’t do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid.” On Monday, however, Midnight Society, the studio Beahm cofounded with ex-Call of Duty developers and others, announced it was terminating its relationship with the streamer after conducting its own investigation into the claims.
Beahm’s mood appeared to dramatically change during his livestream that same day after he briefly looked off camera, possibly at notifications on his phone or another display. After a protracted pause, the topic shifted from what part of the Elden Ring DLC he would explore next to how he was exhausted with streaming and thinking of going on an indefinite break. “I did have a sort of a planned vacation coming up and I think I might just extend that starting today, starting now, one of these ‘let’s take a step back,’” he said. “To be honest I don’t know how long my vacation is but you know maybe I extend that, we’ll see, we’ll see, but I do appreciate you guys champs.”
He continued:
Champs I’m gonna call it right there. Little short one, we accomplished some things, but I think more importantly we need to step away and I think when I say step away, I mean, I’m going to have to relay this to the Midnight Society, but you know, maybe I step away from there too, just completely remove myself away from the scene. It’s what I need to do, right…I’m telling you it’s fatigue it’s ‘I’m tired’ it’s just wanting to move away from the limelight, you know, ultimately that’s what it’s about.
The 180 from the bravado moments earlier upon slaying the DLC’s Bayle The Dread dragon boss seemed bizarrely similar to the final moments of Beahm’s last Twitch stream. There, too, he appeared to lose his focus and change moods after seeming to briefly look at something on his phone. But not everyone is convinced Beahm was knocked off his game by the Midnight Society announcement or some other news related to the allegations about his ban. It’s always possible it was instead a carefully orchestrated sequence to pave the way for a much bigger, more popular “return stream” sometime in the future.
Beahm is first and foremost a performer, and a savvy one at that. Despite the seriousness of the allegations, many in the Dr Disrespect fanbase seem to be doubling-down on their support, at least for the time being.
