Dr Disrespect is an internet enigma. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his strong presence. Additionally, he has walked a rather unorthodox path, which is perfect for our influencer bio series. Who is Dr Disrespect and how did he get to where he is now?
We will have to roll back the time quite a bit to cover the whole story. Most influencers we've covered so far are still in their twenties, but today we tackle a true veteran of the craft. Let's get down to business, shall we?
Dr Disrespect Bio: The Early Years
Doc was born as Herschel Beahm IV waaay back in 1982. We don't know where he was born and raised. The earliest available information about his life comes from his college years. Beahm graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 2005. His education would prove useful, as he soon found himself an interesting job.
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Working for Sledgehammer
Herschel Beahm's life in the last decade is a tale of two halves. The first one, though it started chronologically later than the other, is his work with Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer. He was at first appointed as a community manager in 2011, but moved to level design later on and had a role in developing a lot of the multiplayer maps for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
During that time, he was inactive as a content creator, although he already had some videos uploaded on YouTube prior to joining Sledgehammer. In 2015, he decided to quit his daily job as Herschel Beahm and go full-time streaming as Dr Disrespect.
Becoming Dr Disrespect
Beahm's approach to streaming makes him easily stand out from his peers. On one hand, he simply has the personality for it, on the other, he put some effort into creating a visual persona to boot. The mullet, the mustache, the glasses – it's all memorable, which is exactly what you want to be as an entertainer.
As far as content, Doc is strictly a shooter. In-game only, of course. He's done the Battle Royale titles – from the now forgotten H1Z1 to PUBG, and most recently – Call of Duty: Warzone. He has a thing for other games too, a fresh example being his criticism of Battlefield 2042.
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Criticism is one thing Dr Disrespect doesn't shy away from. That edgier side of him has attracted one or two controversies.
Permanent Twitch Ban
For those that know the Doctor as a YouTuber, news flash: he was a Twitch streamer up until recently. Almost a year ago to the day, the shocking revelation that Twitch has banned Dr Disrespect from the site shook his following. How can one of the biggest streamers on the entire platform get the boot just like that? Well, the answer is... we don't know.
For a couple of weeks following the ban, DD was adamant he has no idea why he was banned and expected a solid explanation from Twitch. When that explanation finally arrived, Doc was left uncharacteristically humbled. The decision was accepted, a move to YouTube materialized, and the whole story was seemingly swept under the rug, never to be brought up again.
It's a real-life Scooby Doo mystery what the hell could lead to a creator of Dr Disrespect's stature to be permanently banned from Twitch, but it's looking more and more likely that it will never be solved.
E3 Ban
There's just something with Dr Disrespect and bans. His E3 pass was revoked after an incident in 2019. The streamer was streaming from the event, and, being the thorough professional that he is, the live stream included a visit to the public restrooms, which is sort of a violation - not just of the Twitch Terms of Service, but of California law.
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Don't worry, Herschel Beahm did not become an inmate because of this, but he was handed a two-week ban from Twitch. That penalty sounds funny years later when Doc isn't even on Twitch anymore.
Various Accusations
Given the nature of his character, it's inevitable that accusations of insensibility are going to be thrown around now and then.
A fine example of that would be Jimmy Wong saying Dr Disrespect is racist because of some questionable impersonations of Chinese people. Doc just shrugged, used the "I have Asian friends" explanation and moved on. Wong's position wasn't helped by the fact his most popular musical project is called "Ching Chong: Asians in the Library Song". Yeah.
A more recent case against Doc was made of his anti-covid stance. These criticisms are way more legit, because they don't necessarily critique DD's position as much as him quoting questionable sources and "leading on" his audience on a very serious matter. Sorry to say, but... the critics were right here.
Dr Disrespect: What's Next?
Covid or no Covid, Doc is doing work. His first book, titled "Violence. Speed. Momentum." came out on March 30, 2021. He is more than ready to jump on the new Battlefield, and we will also surely see him play the next Call of Duty title as well.
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