As soon as-ubiquitous on-line recreation streamer Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, who was banned from Twitch after sending “inappropriate” messages to a minor in 2017, posted a photograph of a media badge on January 26 and stated he had been invited to a pre-release hands-on occasion for the newly launched, free-to-play raid shooter Highguard. Nonetheless, a number of individuals who attended the occasion denied seeing him there, and a few Reddit customers consider his picture was faked with gen AI or Photoshop. And Highguard’s creator supervisor says he wasn’t invited and didn’t attend.
On Monday, forward of the launch of Highguard, DrDisrespect posted a picture of a keyboard, a can of vitality drink, a customized controller, and a Highguard media badge along with his title on it to his X account. He claimed to have performed Highguard at a latest media occasion in Los Angeles. “Last week we took the Lambo to LA to check out #Highguard,” he wrote. “Monday, January 26th at 10am PST, we enter another dimension! Yayayaya.”
Final week we took the Lambo to LA to take a look at #Highguard.
Monday, January twenty sixth at 10am PST, we enter one other dimension!
Yayayaya pic.twitter.com/kQ56GEfonB
— Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) January 24, 2026
Instantly, folks on-line started sharing the put up and claiming the PR workforce behind Highguard had made an enormous mistake inviting somebody like DrDisrespect to the occasion. The streamer was instantly banned from Twitch in June 2020 after which later misplaced sponsorships and different enterprise offers after confirming he’d as soon as despatched messages that have been “inappropriate” however not “illegal” to another person on the platform who was beneath the age of 18. He now streams solely on Rumble and YouTube, which allowed his channel to be monetized once more after a multi-month review of the allegations.
“Choosing to work with a self-admitted pedophile to market your game is certainly…A choice,” posted a game dev and writer. “Never heard of Highguard. Is it good marketing to have the first news about your game that some people hear be that you invited a pedophile to your preview event?” posted someone else on BlueSky.
However, not lengthy after the put up began going viral on-line, creators got here out to disclaim that DrDisrespect was ever on the occasion, claiming he was mendacity about being invited.
“Dr. Disrespect was not invited to the early access event,” posted creator Macro on Twitter. “I know this because I WAS THERE, and I promise you, everyone would’ve noticed that pedo a mile away. There’s so many valid things you can criticize Highguard for, but this isn’t one of them.” Kate Sánchez, the EIC of ButWhyTho, also denied he was there, adding: “I literally did not see him there – unless creators had a different day.” One other content material creator, Kinda Humorous‘s Blessing Adeoye Jr., also believed DrDisrespect was not at the LA event, but said there was a second day for creators only. Sánchez and Adeoye Jr. didn’t attend the creator day.
Highguard creator manager Chin Pua replied to a viral tweet about DrDisrespect and confirmed that he “was not invited to any Highguard event past or present, and the badge was not an official badge.” Kotaku has reached out to Highguard PR however has but to listen to again. A freelancer Kotaku despatched to the occasion didn’t see DrDisrespect on the press day both.
Over on the Highguard subreddit, some players are theorizing that DrDisrespect faked the image utilizing AI instruments or Photoshop. The proof entails how the media badge appears in comparison with different actual, confirmed badges from the occasion. It does look like, if he have been there, he was given a considerably uncommon badge with a special structure than different attendees. If DrDisrespect didn’t attend, he has but to publicly affirm that on social media or elsewhere. He additionally streamed the sport on Rumble and YouTube on launch day.
