In his first official communication in almost a month, popular streamer Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm appears to be back.
First, he released a three-minute video on Twitter, titled Red Skies, in which a silhouette of Beahm in costume stands at a window, looking out upon a cityscape while a song plays. The lyrics of the song were telling, and seemingly take a dig at Twitch.
I don't even know / Why I try anymore / I don't even know
You can't replace me / I won't wait / Celebrate free / I'm levitating
The video gained over 125k likes and 20k retweets, with gaming luminaries such as G2 Esports and their charismatic owner Carlos "ocelote" Rodríguez, Timothy "TimtheTatman" Betar and Turner "Tfue" Tenney all replying. Long-time sponsor Turtle Beach also replied favourably.
Following this, the Doc went live on Instagram, playing a parody news segment that suggested a return set for tomorrow. Then, his YouTube channel went live.
However, instead of the man himself being on screen, viewers simply saw an animated gas station in the rain at night, with radio-like segments featuring Doc soundbites playing over 80's style music.
The audience peaked at more than 300,000 — more than double the number of viewers Ninja received on his return to Twitch yesterday.
At the time of writing — nearly three hours after the stream went live — more than 40k people are still watching, and many have exercised the option to 'join the Champions Club' at $4.99. There have also been a significant number of donations made.
To this day, the community — and the streamer himself — remain in the dark as to why he was banned from the Amazon-owned platform in the first place. Given the swift, unexpected nature of the ban, some pointed towards the wave of abuse victims coming forward in the gaming and streaming industries at the time and — albeit unproven — put two and two together.
However, some also pointed towards the Doc's increasingly strange behaviour in the run up to the end of his time on Twitch. In his final stream, he spoke of the conspiracy theories of controversial figure David Icke and 5G technology, before watching Roblox videos — something rather uncharacteristic given his 'Violence, Speed, Momentum' motto.
After looking down, seemingly checking his phone, his demeanour changed. Quietly saying "we'll get through this", his stream unceremoniously cut to his outtro and that was that.
Since then, we have seen a lengthy period of silence, then a series of interviews appear in outlets such as the Washington Post and PC Gamer about his confusion regarding the ban. Twitch are still to comment, and it looks likely they never will.
Whatever the circumstances, Dr Disrespect appears to be returning tomorrow. With the Doc currently trending on Twitter worldwide, hundreds of thousands will undoubtedly tune in, and streaming records may well be broken yet again.
We haven't heard from Dr Disrespect for quite a while, not since he was unceremoniously banned from Twitch almost a month ago. Now, in interviews with the Washington Post and PC Gamer, the popular streamer says he still has no idea why he was removed from the platform.
