"We Needed to Act": Midnight Society Cuts Ties With Dr Disrespect
UPDATE: Dr Disrespect has issued a statement acknowledging his actions and apologizing to the Midnight Society team
Rumors started swirling that Herschel "Dr Disrespect" Beahm was permabanned from Twitch for sexting a minor and his studio has now reacted to the allegations.
On June 22, former Twitch employees tweeted the possible reason behind the Two-Time's permanent ban from the streaming platform back in 2020. At the time, fans had wondered what led to the serious and permanent punishment but Dr Disrespect simply said that he had a lawsuit against Twitch for the permaban, although he wouldn't share what happened. That all changed earlier this week when Twitch employees explained that the popular streamer had been using Twitch Whispers to send DMs to a minor that he planned to meet at TwitchCon.
At first it was unclear if these allegations were true although many speculated that Twitch and Dr Disrespect had reached some type of understanding behind the scenes since sexting a minor was clearly illegal as was looking at his private DMs. But then Dr Disrespect decided to join in on the conversation, leaving many skeptical.
"I didn't do anything wrong," he tweeted two days ago. "All this has been probed and settled. Nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid."
Many pointed out that his initial statement never stated he was innocent but rather he was not found guilty legally. This had some fans questioning him, although others remained very loyal to the Two-Time and continued to stand up for him.
Now, Midnight Society has decided to take action.
Midnight Society Drops Dr Disrespect After Sexting Allegations
After his removal from Twitch, Dr Disrespect decided to pursue other career paths, including coming up with his own multi-floored take on a battle royale game. He founded Midnight Society and has been giving updates on the game to his fans for the past few years.
When he was accused of sexting a minor, Dr Disrespect announced a break from streaming as well as his decision to "step away" from Midnight Society.
Now, the studio has decided to terminate its relationship with Dr Disrespect immediately.
They wrote on X: "We assumed his innocence and began speaking with parties involved. And in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals, we needed to act."
The tweet continued by stating that its the company's duty to "act with dignity" on behalf of the individuals involved with the studio, the first game's development, and the community of players. Midnight Society admitted that fans may find it "difficult to hear" and "even more difficult to accept" but appears to have decided that Dr Disrespect may not be so innocent.
On Friday evening we became aware of an allegation against one of our co-founder’s Guy Beahm aka Dr Disrespect.
— Midnight Society (@12am) June 24, 2024
We assumed his innocence and began speaking with parties involved. And in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals, we needed to act.…
His fans reacted negatively to the news, with many pointing out that there's no proof shared publicly. Others said that the game was "dead" without Dr Disrespect on board. Some fans wondered if this was based on accusations or maybe some evidence they came across. A gamer pointed out that it appeared as though Midnight Society talked with involved parties and realized Dr Disrespect was not innocent, terminating the relationship immediately.
Dr Disrespect has made no further comments.
Olivia is a long-time esports journalist and editor who covers just about every game but has a deep love for the FGC. Her goal is to find community-driven stories that bring a new perspective to the esports scene. In the past, she has worked for Team Liquid, Rogue, Inven Global, Dot Esports, Upcomer, and more. Outside of esports, Olivia enjoys Kirby, Pokemon TCG, Fallout, and writing science fiction. She can be found trying out new foods, traveling, or hanging out with her two orange cats. Fun fact: Olivia can do some video game and cartoon impressions!