Back in June, Guy Beahm, better known as the two-time, Dr. Disrespect was banned from the streaming platform Twitch for no publicly known reason. Speculation circulated, theories and rumors were created and tossed around like hotcakes, but no one really seemed to know for sure- besides Twitch, any related parties, and Doc himself.
The recent revelation on this subject, which you should still take with many a grain of salt until we know for certain exactly what reasoning behind the ban is, came from a stream between Dr. Disrespect and Odell Beckham Jr. During said stream, which you can watch below, Doc uses an analogy to describe in detail (albeit vague detail), regarding the aforementioned suspected reasoning behind the ban, where he suggests that Twitch did this to save money.
Again, keep in mind that unless Doc says outright what the reason was/is for the ban, this is still speculative. Like, seriously speculative. But the timing for Ninja and Shroud returning to Twitch within a metaphorical arms-length of Doc’s ban does support the theory that Twitch wanted to back out so they could secure Ninja and Shroud instead. Their combined popularity certainly weighs heavy against Doc’s, but once again, this is speculation. And as to what reason Twitch found to ban Doc and void the contract, we don’t exactly know. And may not ever. Doc wouldn’t say it outright, despite also suggesting he knows the reason.
The Twitch deal between them and Dr. Disrespect was rumored to be in the many millions, something that secured Doc’s place as one of, if not the most famous streamer on the platform, if not the planet at one point. Meanwhile, many other streamers such as Tyler “Ninja” Blevins headed over to Mixer where he presumably made a killing on exclusive streams and partnership deals before the Microsoft-lead platform collapsed in on itself, sending many, if not nearly all back to Twitch (some went to Facebook, etc.). And therein lies the suspected reason behind the ban.
You see, when Ninja and others bailed on Twitch for a fortune over on mixer, Twitch needed to think fast on what to do to secure talent, specifically with one of, if not the most popular streamer (debatably), Dr. Disrespect. However, once Ninja and Shroud were free agents, Twitch could have felt that they could back out of Doc’s deal and pull Ninja and Shroud back in with a better deal somehow, or simply felt their money would see bigger, better returns by investing in both Shroud and Ninja rather than those two plus Doc. Regardless of the financial combo Twitch wanted to pursue, keep in mind that both Ninja and Shroud are back, and Doc is all alone over on YouTube.
As to how Twitch found a means to break the contract, that is the tricky and perhaps more interesting part, particularly from a legal standpoint. Twitch could possibly turn around, find something small to ban Doc on that they ignored in the past, as they do with many popular streamers (the ToS for the platform are extremely specific and sensitive, but many popular streamers on Twitch break them fairly often with no repercussions, something that Twitch is constantly under scrutiny for). So, if say, Doc broke one of these smaller terms, even if it was the most mundane, minor of infractions, Twitch could ban him, claim a breach of contract, and all without warning whilst freeing-up their remaining millions that would have lined Doc’s pockets over the coming years of their contracted deal. This could mean that Twitch could theoretically offer some of those many millions to Ninja, Shroud, and possibly to up-and-comers to keep popular talent on the platform all while sacrificing Doc in the process.
Truth be told, we may never know the real reason, especially since it sounds like regardless of what it was, a nasty legal battle has ensued in some way between Guy and Twitch, which will end up ugly for the community and legions of fans of both Doc and Twitch.TV. However, if there is one thing we have taken away from all this, it’s that we need to grow a mustache and start playing first-person shooters immediately. We are in the wrong line of business.
