Twitch has responded to the disturbing live streaming incident involving three female streamers.
On 2 March, Twitch streamers Valkyrae (Rachell Hofstetter), Emiru (Emily Schunk), and Cinna (Brittany Lynn Watts) were streaming their ‘Sis-A-Thon’ event at Santa Monica Pier.
As the three women – who have millions of followers between them – approached the LA pier, they were immediately recognised by an apparent fan.
The man, reportedly called ‘Russel,’ asked for a photo before Cinna responded: “Yeah, of course”.
Everything seemed normal until he later reappeared 20 minutes later in different clothes. The ‘fan’ turned aggressive and began demanding the women for their phone numbers. Things got terrifying when the man began chasing the women around, claiming he’d ‘kill them right now.’
Valkyrie has vowed to track down the man who attacked her. Monica Schipper / Staff / Getty
The live stream cut out as the streamers ran for security and police assistance.
Over a week later, a Twitch representative addressed the incident in a statement to Rolling Stone.
The unnamed rep said that the company is ‘horrified’ by harassment and abuse targeting its creators – whether it happens on the platform or outside of it. They went on to say that the company ‘cares deeply’ about its streamers and is ‘working to ensure they’re being supported.’
Furthermore, Twitch confirmed that its safety teams are investigating the situation – though it’s unclear if they have reached out directly to Valkyrae, Emiru, or Cinna.
While clips of the stream have been surfacing on social media, fans have been voicing their worries about the overall safety of IRL streaming on Twitch and elsewhere and hoping real action is taken to protect streamers from similar dangers in the future.
Cinna commented on a clip from the stream, saying that it ‘does not do it justice for how scary it was.’
NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty
Meanwhile, Valkyrie has vowed to track down the man who attacked her and her fellow content creators during a live broadcast.
She has encouraged anyone with information to come forward. Since the man’s face was visible on-stream, authorities may already be working to identify him.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time a streamer has been targeted, whether during an IRL broadcast or in their own home.
The act is known as stream sniping, and it can involve viewers sometimes tracking down a streamer’s location.
Some streamers have faced dangerous swatting incidents, where prank calls lead to armed police raids on their homes. One of the largest content creators on the internet, Kaitlyn ‘Amouranth’ Siragusa, reveals how she was robbed at gunpoint and left ‘covered in blood’ as attackers invaded her home and demanded that she hand over crypto.
Featured Image Credit: valkyrae / Instagram
Dr. Disrespect issues statement finally revealing the real reason he was banned from Twitch
The popular streamer’s channel was axed from Twitch back in 2020.
Streamer Dr Disrespect has finally revealed details behind his long-standing Twitch ban while addressing his ‘haters’ in a lengthy social media statement.
Dr Disrespect – whose real name is Herschel ‘Guy’ Beahm IV – first found notoriety on YouTube before beginning his career on the popular streaming platform, Twitch.
The 42-year-old rapidly began to pick up popularity, signed sponsorship deals with Gillette and Game Fuel and soon became known for playing battle royale games from the Call of Duty franchise and Fortnite.
(YouTube/DrDisRespect)
However, in 2020, he was subsequently banned from Twitch and the Californian gamer’s channel was removed for a then-undisclosed reason.
The ban is thought to have taken place around the halfway mark of his two-year exclusivity contract with the company.
Due to the contract breach, Dr Disrespect went through a ‘lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with Twitch’ and the case was resolved by a settlement in 2021.
However, on June 22, former Account Director of Strategic Partnership at Twitch, Cody Conners, alleged that the influencer had been banned because he ‘got caught sexting a minor in the then-existing Twitch Whispers product.’
Conners further claimed the man was ‘trying to meet up’ with the juvenile at TwitchCon – allegedly prompting Twitch to pull the plug on his channel.
Three days after the allegation was delivered, Dr Disrespect stepped down from Midnight Society Game Studio and has now taken to social media to confirm he was conversing with an ‘individual minor’ in 2017.
(Instagram/drdisrespect)
Writing to his 2.5 million X followers, the live-streamer said he wanted to ‘cut the f****ng b*****it’ before assuring his fans he had always been ‘up front and real’ with them.
“I’m always willing to accept responsibility… which is why I’m here now,” he continued. “First and foremost I do want to apologize to everyone in my community as well as those close to me, my team, and everyone at Midnight Society Game Studio.”
The gamer then went on to explain that he had ‘painfully’ stepped down from Midnight Society – the game studio he co-founded – and that it was never his intention to ‘jeopardize the culture’ the team had ‘carefully crafted’.
He then went on to say that he wasn’t previously ‘allowed’ to release details regarding his Twitch ban but as a former employee had ‘publicly disclosed the accusations’ he could now tell his side of the story.
“Were there Twitch Whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes,” he confirmed. “Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not.
“These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more.
“Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual.”
He continued to tell his fans that a criminal case had never been brought against him but that he realised he should never have ‘entertained’ the conversations.
“I’ve seen all the remarks and labels being throw around so loosely. Social media is a destruction zone. I’m no f****ng predator or pedophile. Are you kidding me? Anyone that truly knows me f****ng knows where I stand on those things with those types of people. F**k that.
“That’s a different level of disgust that I f****ng hate even hearing about. Don’t be labeling me as the worst of the worst with your exaggerations. Get the f**k outta here with that s**t.”
Dr Disrespect then used his statement to apologise to his community and industry friends who had supported him through the ordeal before delivering a stark warning to his ‘haters’.
“But trust me when I say this…to all my haters that live and breath social media with zero real life experience, I don’t give a f**k about you.
“Finally, if you’re uncomfortable with this entire statement and think I’m a piece of s**t, that’s fine. But I’m not f****ng going anywhere.
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Instagram/drdisrespect
“I’m not the same guy that made this mistake all those years ago. I’m taking an extended vacation with my family as mentioned on stream and I’m coming back with a heavy weight off my shoulders.”
He concluded his statement by adding: “They want me to disappear… yeah f****ng right.”
Following Dr Disrespect’s lengthy social media statement – which has been viewed more than 70 million times – Midnight Society co-founder Robert Bowling broke his silence.
He typed to his 442,600 X followers: “This is a statement from me personally. It does not reflect any of my companies and has not gone through any legal or PR approvals.
“If you inappropriately message a minor. I can not work with you. Period. I promised to only act on facts, and I did.”
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/drdisrespect/ SOPA Images/Contributor/Getty
Missing teen spotted on random Twitch stream 1,200 miles from home seven weeks after disappearance
Someone claiming to be Troy Coleman’s brother got in touch with the streamer.
17-year-old Troy Coleman, who’s 6-foot-4 and weighs between 165 and 180 pounds, was last seen by his family and friends on 17th May 2024 in Mt Morris Township, Michigan.
His father said he was last seen wearing a black hoodie, gray sweatpants and white slide-on shoes.
Yesterday, Twitch streamer FaZe Lacy posted to X after a stream carried out in Miami prompted someone to email him claiming to be Troy’s brother, Trent Coleman.
3 months ago a 17 year old kid went missing and was put on homicide. Yesterday on stream he came up to me and Clix and now his family knows he is alive and in Miami. I wasn’t sure if i should make this public but im hoping somehow this helps him be found for his family.
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The post from the Twitch streamer who has 88.3k followers on X showed a screenshot of the stream with who is thought to be Troy, shirtless and wearing a pair of bright green shorts.
The post reads: “Three months ago a 17 year old kid went missing and was put on homicide. Yesterday on stream he came up to me and Clix and now his family knows he is alive and in Miami.
“I wasn’t sure if i should make this public but im hoping somehow this helps him be found for his family.”
The video of the stream in question shows who is thought to be Troy stopping to chat to the streamers at an outdoor restaurant as well as people at another table nearby.
Also in Lacey’s post is a screenshot of the email from the person claiming to be Troy’s brother.
The email reads: “Hello my name is Trent Coleman and my missing little brother from Michigan was on Clix and Lacy’s stream in Miami, he was wearing green shorts and they were making fun of him, he is not on drugs, he is schizophrenic and he is 17 years old.
“If someone can contact me about this i would be so thankful he has been missing for three months and his case was put on homicide in michigan.”
The 17-year-old went missing in May this year (Facebook/Missing People in America)
Responding to a social media user asking about the email, Lacy said: “I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure it means they thought he was dead but now his family knows he’s alive. Power of the internet is wild.”
There were several reported sightings of the Michigan teen in May, but none of these were confirmed.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Flint Township Police Department at 810-600-3250.
Unilad has contacted Flint Township Police Department for comment.
Featured Image Credit: X / @LacyHimself / @CoffindafferFBI
Ethical hacker catches ’56-year-old predator’ live on stream
He started receiving DMs instantly.
One ethical hacker showed how easy it is for children to become at risk online.
In a livestream hosted by Adin Ross, a professional hacker called Ryan Montgomery demonstrated how he exposes online predators.
The video, shared by best twitch plug on YouTube showed just how quickly and easily predators can find potential victims online.
Montgomery started by typing ‘teen chat’ into Google to mimic the steps that young teens might take to chat with others online.
He created a simple username, ‘Ashley13fTX’ on the first chat site that popped up. Almost immediately, he began receiving messages from predators.
After posting ‘Hi, anyone want to chat?’ in the main chat group, it wasn’t long until his DM box was flooded with creepy messages from accounts he believed were used by adults.
Using typical slang like ‘asl’ (age, sex, location), he posed as a vulnerable child – and the replies were utterly disturbing.
After some back-and-forth messages with one account, one user claimed to be 56 and ‘not married’. When Ryan asked, posing as the 13-year-old girl, if the man cared about her age, he responded ‘If you don’t care about mine, I don’t care about yours’.
Montgomery tried asking them to move the chat to another platform like Snapchat in which the predator offered Kik.
And that was just one of many interactions that could potentially lead to something dangerous.
The fact that there are so many of these websites are easily accessible with no restrictions is honestly quite sickening.
‘absolutely disgusting how those websites exist,’ one YouTuber commented.
Towfiqu barbhuiya/Unsplash
‘My respect for Ryan,’ another wrote, praising the hacker for his dedicated work.
Ryan Montgomery has built an online reputation for sharing cybersecurity advice on how to stay safe online, particularly for younger and more vulnerable audiences.
He shares his knowledge on how the video game Roblox could be used to exploit children in that he found certain in-game content where only over 18s would be allowed to enter and unfiltered conversations could be had. However, the over-18 limit is pretty easy to bypass.
Identifying on his Instagram as a ‘Child Safety Warrior’, he stresses the importance of online safety for children and parents to do their due diligence by monitoring and restricting certain messages and content.
He has also been a guest on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast where he’s discussed the dangers of the deep web and the types of things people may come across.
Featured Image Credit: best twitch plug/YouTube
Dr Disrespect shocks fans with series of bizarre posts after quietly deleting confession of messaging minor
He might be done with gaming streams for good
Popular streamer Dr Disrespect who took a hiatus from streaming says he’s ‘back from vacation.’
In June 2024, former Twitch employees revealed that Dr Disrespect, whose real name is Herschel ‘Guy’ Beahm IV, was banned from the platform for sending DMs to underage users.
Beahm later confessed to these allegations in a now-deleted post on X. This came after numerous companies, including his own game studio, severed ties with him.
Beahm claimed he would be returning to streaming after taking an extended break to spend time with his family. Though it seems gaming might not be his main focus.
Are people still streaming video games? What a snoozefest.
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On September 3, Doc made a surprise appearance on X (formerly Twitter), posting: ‘Are people still streaming video games? What a snoozefest.’
He also responded to his former editor, HobbertEdits, who announced he was leaving the Dr Disrespect brand after six years.
HobbertEdits shared: ‘Despite all the drama and chaos these past few months, I am still extremely proud of all the work I have done but it’s time for me to move on.
‘So, after 6+ years it’s time to say farewell to the @DrDisrespect brand and begin a new chapter.’
To which Doc replied with: ‘The man!’
As of now, it’s unclear where Dr Disrespect will stream or if he will shift to other types of content. YouTube had fully demonetised his channel after his confession, leaving him without a revenue source on the platform.
People have turned to Reddit to share their predictions on whether he will return to streaming.
@drdisrespect/Instagram
Some think he might return to IRL streaming, writing: “I think he is coming back to IRL stream, and maybe even gaming as himself. A full reset may need to drop the character. Just thinking, who knows.”
Others believe his streaming days over.
‘Fairly sure streaming is over. He is just gonna make videos and post them now. He cannot return to live streaming and he knows it he will be ridiculed and mocked endlessly and nobody would ever want to stream with him,’ another added.
One other social media user chimed in: “If he makes any content, you can bet on pre-recorded videos with no live chat and possibly even hidden/blocked comment sections.
“Looks like no video games, and he’ll have to lean into the victim persona, so expect some conspiracy theory weirdo stuff. Or he just plays golf with the weirdos and they do most of the talking.”
