Allegations Lead to Midnight Society Cutting Ties with Dr Disrespect
Midnight Society, the game development studio co-founded by Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm, has officially severed ties with him following resurfaced allegations related to his 2020 Twitch ban. The allegations, which recently came to light, suggest that Dr Disrespect's ban was due to inappropriate interactions with a minor, an accusation that Beahm has strongly denied.
On June 21, 2024, a former Twitch employee claimed that Dr Disrespect was banned from the platform for "sexting a minor," which reignited public scrutiny. Beahm, who co-founded Midnight Society to create the game "Deadrop," addressed the allegations on social media, asserting his innocence and pointing out that legal obligations from a settlement with Twitch limit what he can publicly discuss. He emphasized that no illegal activities were found during investigations and that the matter had been settled.
In response to these allegations, Midnight Society issued a statement on June 24, 2024, announcing their decision to part ways with Beahm. The studio stated that maintaining their principles and standards was paramount, and after speaking with involved parties, they felt compelled to act. The studio highlighted its commitment to dignity and integrity on behalf of its employees and community, making the decision to terminate their relationship with Beahm immediately.
This development has caused significant discussion within the gaming community, with varied opinions on the actions taken by Midnight Society and the accusations against Dr Disrespect. While some support the studio's decision, others remain skeptical, emphasizing the need for concrete proof before taking such drastic measures.
"For everyone who has since said 'that’s fucked' — I agreed with you on Friday night before you wrote it," Conners went on. "I should have agreed with you sooner."
Beahm hasn't yet addressed these latest claims about his behaviour, beyond tweeting last week that "Listen, I'm obviously tied to legal obligations from the settlement with Twitch but I just need to say what I can say since this is the fucking internet. I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid."
Beahm's and Conners' statements have, as you'd expect, been the subject of much discussion on social media. Responding to this, Beahm told viewers of a Twitch stream yesterday (via Eurogamer) that he needed to take a "step back" from his work at Midnight Society. "I mean I'm gonna have to relay this to the Midnight Society, but, you know, maybe I step away from there too," he said. "Just completely remove myself from the scene. It's what I need to do."
Shortly after that stream, The Midnight Society ran a statement of their own acknowledging the allegation, and declaring that they would part ways with Beahm "in order to maintain our principles and standards as a studio and individuals" following an internal inquiry. Here it is in full:
On Friday evening we became aware of an allegation against one of our co-founder's Guy Beahm aka Dr Disrespect.
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.
For this reason, we are terminating our relationship with Guy Beahm immediately.
While these facts are difficult to hear and even more difficult to accept, it is our duty to act with dignity on behalf of all individuals involved, especially the fifty-five developers and families we have employed along with our community of players
