Guy Beahm Issues Apology For Dr DisRespect E3 Conduct
By TJ Denzer ·
In a somewhat unexpected move, Dr DisRespect dropped his act to issue an apology for what appeared to be being too in character at E3.
Dr DisRespect is a controversial character. That’s blatantly obvious, but it got him into some deep trouble at E3 2019 when his live stream took him into a public restroom during the event, resulting in his removal from E3 and a temporary ban from Twitch. In the wake of those events, Guy Beahm - the person behind the Dr DisRespect persona - dropped the act for a moment to post a lengthy apology in his personal twitter.
In a somewhat surprising move, Guy Beahm officially addressed the controversy on July 1, 2019 on his personal twitter, separate from the Dr DisRespect channel. For those who don’t know, Dr DisRespect ran into trouble when, live on his Twitch channel, he filmed from inside of several public restrooms during E3 2019 without the consent of people filmed. This violated California privacy laws and resulted in Dr DisRespect’s E3 pass being confiscated as well as Twitch banning Dr DisRespect’s channel (although this ban was lifted after 14 days, resulting in a resurgence of traffic to Doc’s channel).
Guy Beahm posted his full apology and address of these events on Twitlonger, in which he ultimately claimed he and his crew were “all-in” on the character.
“This was my first IRL stream as the Doc and if it's not obvious by now, one of the things I try to stay true with is authenticity,” Beahm wrote. “Real life personas are so difficult to pull off, especially in today's society. Doc is edgy, highly opinionated, cocky, etc. and that certainly adds to the difficulty in staying authentic without offending anyone on a deeper, personal level. When we were walking around filming at E3, we clearly weren't thinking about the laws/repercussions of filming in the bathroom because honestly, it wasn't in our mind frame at the time.”
Indeed, there is a definite issue of the character vs the person. Dr DisRespect is a character built to antagonize, boast, and otherwise push boundaries. Doc is a character that believes he’s better than everyone around him. That’s the bit. That said, many critics will validly question how much separation between the character and the person behind it. Beahm hasn’t been without his share of issues, including a formal apology last year when he came forth as having been unfaithful in his marriage. Even at current, Doc went right after critics the moment he was back in the saddle, drawing all the more controversy on top of what was already there.
At current, Dr DisRespect has come back online on Twitch after just 14 days and has announced a formal return on July 8. Did Guy Beahm truly learn anything from the experience? Maybe at least not to film in restrooms, but it seems the Doc character is, for the most part, right back to the status quo of drawing ire.