Twitch's Rules For Dr Disrespect's Tournament Are Causing An Uproar
The beef between Dr Disrespect and Twitch has continued in an unexpected way. Just under two years ago, the mustachioed and mulleted streamer was handed a permanent ban from Twitch, necessitating his eventual move to YouTube. Ever since that time, neither the Doc nor Twitch have been forthcoming with reasons for the ban, although Dr Disrespect has dropped a few hints regarding Twitch's possible motivations in the past. The two parties seemed to have buried the hatchet in recent months, with Dr Disrespect telling his fans that his legal issues with the platform had been resolved. However, things might not be all sunshine and roses between the Two-Time Champion and Twitch, as suggested by a new list of rules from the Amazon-owned streaming service regarding Dr Disrespect's highly anticipated "Fortnite" tournament.
May 27 marks the kickoff of Dr Disrespect's Hot Shot Duo Drop featuring "Fortnite," in which Duos will go to war against each another in the battle royale's "Zero Build" mode for a $100,000 prize. Contestants are obviously excited to drop into the game and viewers can't wait to see the action — but anyone watching or streaming the tourney on Twitch will have to make some serious concessions.
BoomTV, the organizers of the event, provided a list of guidelines for streamers participating in the event, reminding creators of Twitch's rules forbidding the promotion of banned streamers. Naturally, this would include the host of the tournament, Dr Disrespect himself, and people aren't happy about it.
Dr Disrespect can't be shown at his own tournament
Dr Disrespect is mentioned by name several times in the guidelines for the event, which aim to give Twitch streamers helpful instructions on how to participate in the tournament without ever mentioning Doc directly. One piece of advice suggests that streamers only refer to him by his various nicknames, including "the 'two-time,' [and] 'Blockbuster video game champion.'" The notice also asks that streamers hide and mute any appearances of Dr Disrespect during their stream, negating his presence at his own tournament.
These guidelines have been met with a sizable amount of pushback from the streaming and esports community. ZLaner, a frequent partner of Dr Disrespect's, called out these rules as "the [pettiest] s*** [he's] ever seen." Meanwhile, some fans pointed to what they saw as hypocrisy on Twitch's part, arguing that the platform regularly allows offensive content to be streamed without any real repercussions. Others were simply reminded that Twitch never revealed why Dr Disrespect was banned in the first place, nor why the platform continues to enforce such strict rules forbidding him from being featured on any stream.
Despite the end of Doc's legal battle with Twitch, it's clear that the platform has not changed any of its policies regarding the content creator. This is why chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was suspended from the platform for streaming and commentating on a chess match between Dr Disrespect and DrLupo — and why it will probably be a good long while before Dr Disrespect is welcomed on any Twitch channel in the foreseeable future.