Three weeks ago, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm live-streamed himself walking into an E3 bathroom and, ultimately, taking his suspension very seriously, despite the fact that he may well have broken the law by using a camera in a public bathroom. Today, Beahm broke character to offer the public an apology. And some excuses.
Beahm, whose Twitch account has since been reinstated, posted a message entitled “I’d like to talk about Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban from E3” on his own personal Twitter account, as opposed to the in-character Twitter account for his Twitch persona Dr Disrespect.
After three weeks of the Dr. Disrespect Twitter account posting goofs and hyping the Doc’s inevitable return to Twitch, Beahm’s statement today finally discussed what happened at E3.
“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,” he wrote, explaining that he was committed to “staying authentic” to Doc’s “edgy” character during his first IRL stream ever.
“We were so into the E3 IRL journey that we became a little blind in what’s OK and what’s not OK. We had no ill intentions and I feel that was pretty obvious if you watched the entire thing. We wanted to capture an adventure, unfortunately we took that adventure into the wrongs areas [sic] unaware of the legalities surrounding it. On behalf of the Dr Disrespect brand, I apologise for this.”
He went on to further describe “the Dr Disrespect brand” and his plans for the future, stating that this incident was “a step back” but then pivoting into hyping future plans.
“I’m very lucky to be considered an influential person in this entertainment space,” Beahm wrote. “Believe me, I don’t take it for granted. We are working on a lot of things (that take time) that will hopefully continue to elevate the brand and gaming entertainment as a whole into the main stream [sic] space.”
On one hand, this was a much-needed apology, but on the other, it reads almost like Beahm is using his character and “brand” as a shield against accepting full responsibility for his own actions. Beahm is “the Dr Disrespect brand,” so it’s odd to see him apologizing “on behalf” of it.
After all, Dr Disrespect is a character created and played by Beahm, and presumably, Beahm is in full control of his faculties when he’s playing that character, regardless of how much he’s yelling. Other streamers also attended E3, but Doc was the only one to stroll into a bathroom with a camera—multiple times, no less, despite messages in his chat and on social media saying it might not be such a good idea.
In his statement, Beahm repeatedly spoke of his commitment to “authenticity,” a concept that’s popular on Twitch due to the intimacy of the platform relative to other, more traditional types of celebrity. There is, however, an intrinsic contradiction to this framing: Everybody on Twitch is putting on a performance.
Nobody is being wholly authentic, least of all when they’re playing a character. But they are making calculated decisions about how to portray themselves. Beahm made a series of decisions—not his character, not his brand, but Beahm himself. Real authenticity is owning up to that side of streaming, as well.
Still, Beahm says the Dr Disrespect brand has learned its lesson: “ We learn, become stronger, and move forward,” he wrote. “If you follow the brand or myself, I hope you continue to stay with me on this vision.”
Comments
19 responses to “Dr Disrespect Apologizes For E3 Bathroom Stream ‘On Behalf Of The Dr Disrespect Brand’”
Partial credit for not being a, “Sorry some people were offended by this thing I don’t actually think is offensive,” non-apology, but not enough to be a pass mark.
Is there just… something broken in people like this that prevents them from simply apologizing with sincerity? Or at the very least, ‘apologizing’ without distancing themselves from responsibility (‘It wasn’t me, it was my persona!’) and delivering a fucking sales pitch in the same breath? Are they like sharks, only instead of swimming, they’ve gotta be hustling or they die?
A true, authentic apology is admitting wrong doing – which makes you very liable for your actions (as you should be might I add).
These kinds of non-apologies are massaged by PR managers to *sound* like they’re saying sorry without actually using those words, or addressing the issue.
Admitting fault for a brand like DD can open you up to all sorts of penalities and litigous issues, so they skirt decency by offering a ‘sorry if you were offended’ lines to be able to tick the box and move on.
It is a “Business/Brand Apology” It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
In-character or not, he definitely looks like someone who films people in toilets now I’ve seen his face.
Why does it have to be him who takes “gaming entertainment” into the “main stream space”?
Can’t it be someone like… uhh…
Well shit.
If he is taking gaming into the mainstream then fuck this shit, I’m out. It’s a sad day for gaming if this douche bag Logan wannabe becomes any sort role model for gaming culture.
No body can be that dumb, this is just a publicity stunt that has paid off for him. Good work Twitch, for allowing this POS to prevail.
Ignorance is not a valid excuse.
“I’m sorry I was speeding, I was just trying to make it home before the game started. I forgot about the speed limit because it wasn’t in my frame of mind. I didn’t have any ill intentions.”
“I am sorry I stole that chocolate bar, I just really wanted to taste it and I was so excited by the new flavour that stealing wasn’t in my mind frame at the time. I had no ill intentions.”
Yeah, no.
Try: “I’m sorry we filmed in a public bathroom. I knew going in that it was a stupid thing to do but I went ahead because I thought the bit would get us some controversy and attention, and I foolishly thought my minor celebrity status put me above public filming laws. I understand that these laws are in place for a reason and I will not do this sort of stunt again.”
except all of those are mitigating circumstances that would have to be considered by a just or magistrate.
Especially in the case of a speeding fine I’ve seen heaps of excuses used in Australia to reduce the fine to court costs and no demerit points. Provided your willing to turn up to court and have a somewhat clean record otherwise.
*justice/judge or magistrate.
I see what you’re saying but I think your point might not be the strongest here with these specific examples. Speeding home to watch TV and stealing because you want to taste something are not exactly good examples of mitigating circumstances.
I’ve seen them work though. I’ve seen awful excuses used more than 20 times to knock it down to court fees with a section 10 dismissal.
If the offense isn’t really that bad (low level speeding, stealing a cookie) and its your first time, then in my experience, the magistrate will nearly always section 10 if you plead guilty with reason.
I’m surprised. Thankfully never been in that position. You seem to have some experience in the area so I’ll take your word for it.
This is old news, I’m waiting for the next thing to go wrong so he can apologise again.
It took him 3 weeks to apologise, if you could call it an apology.
The guy is a pure moron.
Sorry mate. You’re a dickhead. Please become obscure quickly.
No disrespect.
Still no charges laid?
Some one who was filmed would have to file a complaint.
The worst thing is people still vote with their clicks and continue to watch him. Honestly the only way to stop behaviour like this is for people to move on and watch someone else.
Your assuming him still having viewers is an endorsement of what he’s done.
I still watch and sub to him. While at the same time thinking what he did was fucking stupid and he should have apologized out of character.