Once ubiquitous online game streamer Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, who was banned from Twitch after sending “inappropriate” messages to a minor in 2017, posted a photo of a media badge on January 26 and said he had been invited to a pre-release hands-on event for the newly released, free-to-play raid shooter Highguard. However, multiple people who attended the event denied seeing him there, and some Reddit users believe his photo was faked with gen AI or Photoshop. And the Highguard’s creator manager says he wasn’t invited and didn’t attend.
On Monday, ahead of the launch of Highguard, DrDisrespect posted an image of a keyboard, a can of energy drink, a personalized controller, and a Highguard media badge with his name on it to his X account. He claimed to have played Highguard at a recent media event 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.”
Last week we took the Lambo to LA to check out #Highguard.
Monday, January 26th at 10am PST, we enter another dimension!
Yayayaya pic.twitter.com/kQ56GEfonB
— Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) January 24, 2026
Immediately, people online began sharing the post and claiming the PR team behind Highguard had made a huge mistake inviting someone like DrDisrespect to the event. The streamer was suddenly banned from Twitch in June 2020 and then later lost sponsorships and other business deals after confirming he’d once sent messages that leaned “inappropriate” but not “illegal” someone else on the platform who was under the age of 18. He now streams exclusively on Rumble and YouTube, which allowed his channel to be monetized again 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.
But, not long after the post started going viral online, creators came out to deny that DrDisrespect was ever at the event, claiming he was lying 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 at ButWhyTho, also denied he was there, adding: “I literally did not see him there – unless creators had a different day.” Another content creator, Kinda Funny‘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 but has yet to hear back. A freelancer Kotaku sent to the event didn’t see DrDisrespect at the press day either.
Over on the Highguard subreddit, some players are theorizing that DrDisrespect faked the image using AI tools or Photoshop. The evidence involves how the media badge looks compared to other real, confirmed badges from the event. It does seem like, if he were there, he was given a slightly unusual badge with a different layout than other attendees. If DrDisrespect didn’t attend, he has yet to publicly confirm that on social media or elsewhere. He also streamed the game on Rumble and YouTube on launch day.
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