After the whole Twitch controversy surrounding the harassment of a minor, Dr. Disrespect is back in the streaming business – and once again comments in detail on the allegations.
For days, Dr. Disrespect had been hinting that he would return to the streaming business after a long break due to the controversy surrounding the harassment of a minor on Twitch – and indeed: Now the time had come! On YouTube, Dr. Disrespect broadcast a stream for the first time again in which he also commented at length on the allegations.
As a reminder: Twitch banned Dr. Disrespect from its own platform in 2020, but did not give any background information at the time. This summer, a former employee of the platform revealed that the well-known streamer and influencer had apparently sent inappropriate messages to a minor via Twitch’s chat function. Dr. Disrespect received a major shitstorm as a result and several partners ended their collaboration with him – time for a streaming break. And it is now over!
Dr. Disrespect has now commented on the allegations of inappropriate behavior in more detail, but without revealing the messages in question. Instead, he is going on the offensive. With regard to his earlier statement, he emphasizes that it has mostly been misinterpreted. He never tried to meet the minor in person at TwitchCo; it must also be noted that the user – even if she was still a minor – had reached the legal age of consent when the messages were exchanged.
The messages in question did not contain any sexually suggestive images; they were just text messages. “You can portray anyone’s messages as inappropriate, even if they aren’t,” he continued in his defense. The whole process was finally examined and dealt with years ago. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other institutions were involved, and no illegal behavior was discovered during the review. The minor also had no interest in exaggerating and dramatizing the situation.
The whole drama on Twitch began in 2019 when he was assigned a new partner manager with whom he did not work well. This partner manager investigated his Twitch Whispers and reported the offensive messages to the Trust and Safety Team at Twitch, which, according to Dr. Disrespect, could not find any wrongdoing. However, the partner manager continued to pursue his goals in this regard and forwarded the whole thing to the Law Enforcement Team at Twitch, which also could not find any wrongdoing. During the entire process, neither Dr. Disrespect nor the minor were questioned at all. How the separation from Twitch ultimately came about nevertheless remains unclear.
Dr. Disrespect wants to put the whole issue behind him and focus on continuing his streaming career. He will stay with YouTube and the partnership with Google’s video platform will be renewed from September 25th.