Weekly Scroll: Disrespecting the Doctor

A streamer gets cancelled, TikTok can't pay, AI doom loops, and Cow Cooking

Better late than never, it’s last week’s edition of the Weekly Scroll! Here’s the week in social media:

Do Not Admit To The Thing You’re Denying

Herschel "Guy" Beahm, aka Dr. Disrespect, has been one of the largest streamers on the internet over the last decade. After all, who could resist a guy who looks like this:

I’m sure his content is wholesome and fun, and that creepy 80’s mustache is not a sign of problematic things to come.¹

Dr. Disrespect’s content is fairly standard as such things go - livestreaming lots of video games with a focus on first person shooters and a brash, ‘Alpha’ attitude. Think a Hulk Hogan-esque persona, the kind of person a middle school boy thinks is super badass. But in 2020, out of nowhere, the Doc was permanently suspended from Twitch. There was no explanation from his side and no explanation from Twitch, who rarely comment on streamer bans.

Doc had more than 4 million followers at the time of his ban, in the top ten streamers on Twitch. Despite the oddness of the ban, his fans followed him to YouTube where he picked up where he left off. His debut livestream on YouTube garnered more than 500,000 simultaneous viewers, and he now has more than 4.7M subscribers on the site.

Things went well for the Doc for several years, despite the mystery around his ban. Until this bomb dropped last week:

If you remember the Ukulele Groomer Apology Song,² you’ll remember that social media figures facing serious allegations tend to self-destruct in incredible ways.

My advice from that post:

If you really must say something, you typically want to keep it short and tight and as bland as possible. A good statement is something like “These allegations are false. I look forward to the full truth coming out and will not be making any further comments at this time.” You absolutely do not want to use your statement as an opportunity to get creative.

Dr. Disrespect, I am sad to say, did not take this advice.