Before He Was a Streaming Sensation, Dr. Disrespect Had a Real Job
Dr. Disrespect was one of the world’s biggest streaming stars. But before that, he did something entirely different.
Published June 28 2024, 1:11 p.m. ET
One of the foremost streamers, Dr. Disrespect, has become synonymous with scandal. Yet, he’s been able to hold his head above water after getting banned from Twitch in 2020 by continuing to partner with other companies through his YouTube account. Despite Dr. Disrespect’s fallout from Twitch, he went on to release his 2021 memoir, Violence. Speed. Momentum., and launch his own gaming studio, Midnight Society.
Born Herschel “Guy” Beahm IV, Dr. Disrespect has come under fire for “sexts” he exchanged with a minor, which he confirmed in June 2024 was why he got banned from Twitch in 2020.
His confirmation led several sponsors and partners to drop their association with Guy, so netizens are wondering what he could do next based on what he did before becoming a streaming sensation. So what did Dr. Disrespect do before streaming?
Before streaming, Dr. Disrespect played basketball and worked in video games.
As one of streaming’s earliest stars, it makes sense that Dr. Disrespect had a semblance of a career before he became a viral sensation. Born in 1982, Guy went to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, from which he graduated in 2005 with a degree in Marketing Management.
While in college, he actually played NCAA Division II basketball, in which they went 21–7 for the season, so that’s not too shabby.
Considering the fact that Dr. Disrespect is 6 feet 8 inches tall, it shouldn’t be that shocking he was a basketball player. Part of his streaming persona was his unique larger-than-life character with wig, glasses, and mustache all coming together.
He started getting into the streaming business in college while playing Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. He was known in the Halo community by his gamer tag, “Diarrhea Panic,” for his trash talk in the chat.
This led him to start streaming (as we know it today) in 2010 when he published his first YouTube video as Dr. Disrespect. This led him to an early job with Machinima Inc. as their Managing Director.
He started by streaming the Call of Duty games, but about a year later, he started working with Sledgehammer Games as their community manager and stopped making streaming content in the process.
By working in the video game industry, Guy both heightened his profile within and outside of the insular gaming community. His role at Sledgehammer included level design for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and although he had quit streaming to focus on his job, he eventually started working with Justin.tv, which would later become Twitch.
By 2015, he quit Sledgehammer to focus on streaming full-time.
Since then, Guy’s LinkedIn states that he has just been an “influencer” as Dr. Disrespect. But after his fallout from Twitch, he was forced to slightly pivot. Because details of his ban were kept under wraps, Guy was able to continue working in gaming, as long as he didn’t stream on Twitch.
He kept up his YouTube channel and even launched his own gaming studio, Midnight Society, with some COD and Halo veterans.
Guy also collaborated with the San Francisco 49ers on social media, although they cut ties with him when news of his scandal was confirmed. So what could Guy do next? Well, based on all the companies cutting ties with him, we doubt that he could continue in the influencer sphere.
And at 42 years old, we doubt he’s going to go back to his basketball career.
Despite saying he’s not going anywhere, we wouldn’t be surprised if Guy goes back into the shadows of the corporate world and finally uses his college degree as a marketing manager.
