Twitch banned popular streamer Dr Disrespect and nobody knows why

Twitch has banned popular gaming streamer Herschel Beahm aka Dr Disrespect. The company has not stated why his account was taken down or how long the suspension would last, but multiple sources are corroborating that Beahm, who was among Twitch's top 10 most followed accounts, is permanently banned from the platform. He has not yet publicly commented on the situation.

Twitch back in March had just signed Beahm onto a lucrative new two-year exclusivity agreement.

In a statement to Kotaku, the company only said, “As is our process, we take appropriate action when we have evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community.” The statement leaves much to be desired, and in the void has come much speculation.

Another popular streamer, Shannon "ShannonZKiler" Plante tweeted that she heard from sources that the ban was permanent and due to a "serious" issue. She deleted the tweeted, however, following up by saying that she decided to remove it because she was unable to confirm the specific issue.

Twitch's misconduct crackdown — The ban comes shortly after Twitch publicly committed to cleaning up its platform in the wake of a string of sexual abuse allegations against top streamers. Beahm was not named in any public allegations, though industry journalist Rod Breslau said on Twitter that copyright violations weren't a reason for the ban, suggesting it could have been related to misconduct on or off Twitch. Beahm was temporarily suspended last year for streaming from a men's bathroom.

Community members have for years called on Twitch to address its issues with sexual harassment among top personalities, with one person even claiming the company's CEO has been dismissive of complaints. If Beahm was banned for sexual misconduct, it could signal that Twitch is serious about its new zero-tolerance policy and won't let high earners get away with bad behavior. Many creators like Beahm rely on Twitch as a major source of income, meaning a ban will be painful. At the same time, if it was misconduct, the speed at which they've made this decision after their cleanup announcement certainly makes it seem like they were already aware of signicant problems and let it slide.