Who is Guy Beahm, a Gamer with 3.2 Million Followers

The job title ‘streamer’ may not mean much to anyone born before 1980, but it is established jargon in today’s web-based world. For those who need catching up on this century’s internet evolution, a streamer is someone who broadcasts themselves online either live or with a pre-recorded video. The subject of the stream could be anything, but popular genres include gaming, tutorials or even just chatting.

Thanks to the internet, streaming, along with similar careers that were inconceivable 20 years ago are now shaping culture and are aspirational to today’s youth.  According to the First-Choice study of 1000 children aged six to seventeen, 75% aspire to become YouTubers - a job involving creating and uploading videos onto the website - that launched in only 2005 - with the hopes of amassing views, likes, fame, and fortune. Streaming sites like Vimeo and Twitch offer it’s users a related but diverse route to similar celebrity status; the more people streaming and subscribing to an individual’s channel leads to a generation of income and popularity.

The man behind the mask: Guy Beahm is a popular gamer and internet personality who created the character Dr. DisRespect and portrays him while broadcasting on the streaming site Twitch. Born in 1982, Guy has a long history of gaming and began a YouTube account with friends in 2010 that featured gameplay of Call of Duty. Guy then started to create content for the creator platform Machinima and quickly started to gain popularity and develop a following.

Dr DisRespect is the cocky, potty-mouthed character created by Guy wears a huge headset, reflective sports sunglasses and a red bullet-proof vest in either red or black. The stand-out features of his look, however, are the thick, brown, slug-like moustache planted firmly over his top lip and the black mullet wig reaching down to his shoulders. The tone of his broadcasts is best understood by referring to Dr DisRespect’s personal twitter bio in which he describes himself as ‘The most ruthless competitor in the online gaming community.’

Dr DisRespect is a caricature of the overtly macho personas that are adopted by some gamers and his look draws inspiration from wrestlers of the 80’s. Indeed, as well as Twitch, the character could also be the face of toxic masculinity with his short-fused temper and antagonizing jibes to other players. His origins reach back past 2004 when the username Dr DisRespect was first used when Guy was playing Halo 2. It is during the playing of this game that Dr DisRespect was refined as a character as it offered the players the opportunity to chat through voice proximity meaning the doctor could practice his disrespect. Today he predominantly plays and streams H1Z1 and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

In 2011, Guy landed a job working as a Map Designer and Community Manager at Sledgehammer Games which meant that his own streaming output and the character Dr. Disrespect took a backseat for a number of years. The Doctor let his fans know by saying his goodbyes on his personal personal twitter account.
 

Dr DisRespect was soon to return, however, when in September 2015, Guy quit his job at Sledgehammer in order to start streaming full time. He now regularly streams for 8+ hours at a time to thousands of followers and has gained the unofficial title of ‘the face of Twitch.’ With regards to Guy’s personal life, he attempts to keep it private, although he has made it apparent that he lives with his beautiful wife and daughter.

Since his return he has gained over 3.8 million Twitch followers. The doctor is one of the most watched and well-known streamers on the platform, having maintained his ‘the face of Twitch’ title for many years. In the summer of 2017, Dr DisRespect had an average viewership reaching 30,000 and he received the Esport award for streamer of the year. He won the same title again in 2019.

The gamer is obviously very talented which draws the viewers in, however, they stay and subscribe for the Dr. himself – his arrogance, along with his bold look, unmatched bravado and sassy put-downs prove highly entertaining. While obliterating enemies, Dr Disrespect likes to remind his opponents and his followers that he was the two-time 1993-1994 blockbuster video game champion. His confidence and brash attitude define his online persona on Twitch, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. When Dr DisRespect’s Twitter and YouTube accounts surpassed 1 million followers, he publicly and boastfully celebrated hitting 1 billion.

The Doctor regularly streams around 36 hours a week and has a loyal fanbase that tunes in to watch him ‘dominate.’ With his history of multiple awards and ever-increasing popularity, it seems the only way for Dr DisRespect is up.

With such an aversive character, it’s unsurprising that Dr DisRespect has run into some conflict. In December 2017, Guy uploaded a video out of character in which he admitted to cheating on his wife and claimed to be taking a break from streaming and Twitch to focus on his family. The video was met with dismay from his fans who began the wait for his return. Dressed in normal clothing and a cap, Guy seemed bashful and lacking the confidence of his alter ego. However, only 2 months later in February 2018, Dr DisRespect was back, broadcasting to a record-breaking concurrent viewership on an individual streamer’s channel of 388,000. His return was prefaced by YouTube teaser videos which led people to speculate that his time-out was a publicity stunt.

The Dr has also been accused of racism by musician Jimmy Wong. In a series of clips sourced from Dr DisRespect’s channel, he can be seen doing a Chinese accent and mocking Chinese players. The Dr responded by saying some of his best friends were Asian and called the accusations laughable.

Finally, at the 2019 E3 event in California, Guy attempted to do his first-ever live stream fully in character as Dr DisRespect. Dr DisRespect attended the event and broadcasted live to his followers, relaying Dr DisRespect’s experiences of walking around the venue, soaking up the atmosphere and meeting fans. However, the stream was cut short after he broke Twitch’s terms of service by live streaming in a public bathroom multiple times. The gamer had his E3 badge revoked and was also dealt a two-week ban from Twitch. Once again, Guy broke character to post an apology on his (not Dr DisRespect’s) Twitlonger account. There, he called the maneuver a ‘step-back’ and revealed that he had fired his manager. The popular streamer’s return was eagerly anticipated and brought an increase in viewership which lead to questions over the legitimacy of Twitch’s light punishment and whether it should be fair that streamers who break the rules are dealt with such meager punishments and are even rewarded by financial gain upon their return.

1. In an interview with H3 Podcast guy admits that he and Dr DisRespect don’t share many personality traits or characteristics and when playing Dr DisRespect, he becomes a completely different person.

2. It’s probable that Guy really did win gaming tournaments in 1993 and 1994 like his character loves to tell people. However, back then there were a lot of video game tournaments that didn’t mean very much. He has mentioned that his first win was in a blockbuster’s with multiple TV’s set up with all participants playing NBA Jam, the second in a marine park.

3. The guy played varsity basketball in college California State Polytechnic University which is also where he first started streaming.

4. His roots in basketball are unsurprising since Guy reaches a giant 6’8’’.

5. His net worth is reportedly $800,000. He earns primarily from Twitch viewer donations and from paid channel subscriptions.

Despite the controversies, Dr DisRespect is still one of the most popular and most well-liked streamers. He has already made his mark on the gaming and streaming industries, but his charismatic personality isn’t expected to be backing down anytime soon. The ‘face of Twitch’ has worked hard in forging a career out of a beloved hobby and has been at the forefront of these developing worlds. He is in an influential position no wonder thousands aspire to do the same.