Why did Midnight Society cut ties with Dr Disrespect?

Dr Disrespect may well be a permanent stain on his reputation and whether he’ll actually return after his hiatus remains to be seen.

One of the biggest blows to Dr Disrespectm, real name Herschel “Guy” Beahm, came on Monday June 24 when the game studio, Midnight Society, which he co-founded, announced it would be parting ways with the streamer in light of new information coming to light about his sudden departure from Twitch in 2020.

While the statement claims that his innocence was presumed at first, after speaking with the parties involved the decision was made to cut all ties to “maintain our principles and standards.”

What is Midnight Society?

The game studio was founded in 2021 by Beahm, Robert Bowling, Quinn DelHoyo, and Sumit Gupta. Before setting up the studio, Bowling worked at Infinity Ward whereas DelHoyo previously worked at 343 on the Halo series. Checking out the studio’s website it’s clear the devs have big plans with its first major title, Deadrop, currently in pre-alpha. 

Being a majorly recognizable streamer with a following of around 4 million, Dr Disrespect’s involvement brought a lot of attention to the project and he pretty much became the face of the company due to his prominence. Despite this, Beahm rarely spoke about Deadrop or the studio in general on his streams.

Midnight Society and Dr. Disrespect part ways

Recent allegations made by two former Twitch employees have thrown a wrench in the works. Beahm was accused of sexting a minor in 2020 using Twitch Whispers and arranging to meet in person with them at TwitchCon, which was supposedly the reason for his permanent ban.

In light of that the decision was ultimately made to cut ties, although many fans have now turned on the studio:

THERE IS NO MIDNIGHT SOCIETY WITHOUT DOC

— W I Z A R D (@tweetsofWIZARD) June 24, 2024

Some have been put off playing Deadrop altogether.

Your game is now dead in the water. Shame there were some good devs on that team

— Jonah 🎮 (@RealJonahBlake) June 24, 2024

While others wanted to see some actual concrete proof of Beahm’s guilt and even accused the studio of withholding information.

Your game is now dead in the water. Shame there were some good devs on that team

— Jonah 🎮 (@RealJonahBlake) June 24, 2024

Over on the studio’s Instagram page fans are even rallying to cancel Midnight Society in the comments under the recent posts.

Of course, unlike Dr. Disrespect’s fans, the fledgling game studio has a lot more on the line. Associating with the wrong kinds of people can ruin a reputation and possibly even lead to it going bust. When there are “fifty-five developers and families” employed by the company it’s ultimately a case of doing what is best for those that will be immediately affected.

Does Midnight Society know something we don’t?

As the statement says, Beahm’s innocence was presumed when communication began between the parties involved. It does sound like it’s implying that the studio might know something we don’t but we can’t confirm whether this is the case right now.