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Etika
Etika in May 2019
BornDesmond Daniel Amofah
(1990-05-12)May 12, 1990
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 19, 2019 (aged 29)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by Jumping off bridge.
NationalityAmerican
Other names
  • Iceman
  • Guile-kun
Occupations
Years active2011–2015 (model)
2012–2019 (YouTuber)
Parents
YouTube information
Channels
  • EWNetwork (terminated)
  • EtikaFRFX (terminated)
  • TR1Iceman
  • E Live
Years active2012–2019
Genres
Subscribers1.3 million+ (combined)
Total views4 million+ (combined)
Creator Awards
100,000 subscribers2015
Last updated: July 5, 2019
Websiteetikaworldnetwork.com
American YouTuber and live streamer

Desmond Daniel Amofah (May 12, 1990 – June 19, 2019), better known as Etika, was an American YouTuber, streamer and former model, best known for his reactions to Nintendo Direct presentations.

Following several months which involved him exhibiting signs of mental illness, as well as threatening suicide on multiple occasions, Amofah disappeared on the evening of June 19, 2019, after uploading an apologetic video in which he admitted to being mentally ill and suicidal. Amofah's body was discovered in the East River on June 24 by the New York City Police Department. They later confirmed his cause of death was suicide by drowning.

Early life

Amofah was born in Brooklyn, New York, to father Owuraku Amofah, a Ghanaian politician and lawyer, and mother, Sabrina Amofah. His father's relative (addressed by him as "uncle") Nana Akufo-Addo, of the prominent Ghanaian Ofori-Atta family, became President of Ghana in January 2017. He had several siblings, including two sisters and one half-sister, two younger brothers and one older brother, named Randy Amofah, who died on October 31, 2010 from an asthma attack while driving through a sandstorm in Ghana.

Career

Prior to the Etika branding, Amofah was active in modeling and rapping. He continued modeling until 2015. Amofah stated in a tweet that the name Etika came from the 2003 video game Sonic Battle, in which players could input a code titled EkiTa into the game. Amofah was a big fan of Sonic Battle. He started using YouTube to broadcast his gaming and reaction streams in 2012 under his original username "EWNetwork" (pronounced "Etika World Network"). Prior to the closure of his main channel on YouTube in 2018, he had more than 800,000 followers between his YouTube and Twitch.tv channels, and within months after creating a second YouTube channel, he had more than 130,000 subscribers. Amofah's content had been described as Nintendo-focused. He frequently streamed reactions, often over the top, to Nintendo Direct presentations, which usually involved him screaming and falling out of his chair in elated shock to new product announcements. He dubbed his fans the "Joy-Con Boyz", after the Nintendo Switch controller known as the Joy-Con. In November 2016, two videos of Amofah's where he purported to have a Nintendo Switch console before its 2017 release were scrutinized by fans; the model he was using was 3D-printed by fellow YouTuber "Sandqvist" at Amofah's request.

In June 2017, Amofah revealed himself to be the victim of multiple "fake donations", or "chargebacks" of large amounts of money sent to his PayPal account via stream donations, which would jostle Amofah with hundreds of dollars in processing fees.

In October 2018, Amofah uploaded pornography to his YouTube channel, which violated YouTube's policies and consequently led to the channel's deletion. He was also banned from Twitch that year for using a homophobic slur during a stream. Following the deletion of his channel, Amofah posted cryptic messages to social media, including the statement "it's my turn to die", coupled with a screenshot of his terminated account. Several of his followers felt that the messages and posts were very suicidal in nature, which quickly created a panic within his following. Amofah took to social media that evening to confirm his well-being, along with other streamers who professed to having seen him safe and sound in person, as to allay the followers' fears. He later apologized on Reddit. Etika also ran into trouble when he demanded that his twitter account become verified, later tweeting "fuck the jews" when his attempts were turned down.

On April 16, 2019, Amofah tweeted that he was going to kill himself with a pistol he bought from a gun store in Long Island, which led to his arrest and hospitalization. Christine Cardona, who had dated Amofah from 2011 to 2017, confirmed his well-being, and that she had been "observing him all day". Days later, he posted a picture of himself holding a gun which Cardona said was fake. On April 29, after tweeting various cryptic, anti-semitic, and homophobic messages, he blocked close friends of his, including fellow YouTuber Sky Williams. Later that day, he live-streamed himself getting detained by police to over 19,000 viewers on Instagram Live, after a concerned fan had notified police about his alarmingly erratic nature during the livestream. He was also detained again that same week for assaulting a police officer. Amofah would then make an appearance on the YouTube channel "DramaAlert", run by Internet personality Keemstar, for an interview, in which he stated he was the "antichrist" and that he wanted to "purge all life".

Disappearance and death

Etika as he appeared in the "I'm sorry" video

In the late evening on June 19, 2019, Amofah posted a YouTube video titled "I'm sorry" to his personal YouTube channel TR1Iceman, alluding to his suicidal thoughts as he was walking down New York City streets. In the video he admitted to having mental health issues, struggling with the attention he had gained from streaming, and apologized for pushing people away from him. In the video, Amofah said "I hope that my story maybe helps to make YouTube a better place in the future where people know boundaries and limits and how far things should go." YouTube removed the video for violating its Community Guidelines, though Amofah's fans reposted the video to other outlets.

He was last heard from at 8 pm that night and was reported missing to the New York Police Department (NYPD) by June 20. While the NYPD began its own search, fellow internet personalities and his fans tried to reach out to him to offer their help and show their appreciation of his work over the years.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page).

On Wednesday night, the same day of Amofah's disappearance, his belongings were discovered on the pedestrian walkway of the Manhattan Bridge. They included a backpack, wallet, laptop bag, cell phone, a change of clothes and a Nintendo Switch console. On the evening of June 24, a body was observed near Pier 16, approximately half a mile (0.8 km) down the East River from where Amofah's belongings were recovered, and reported to the NYPD. By the morning of June 25, the NYPD and emergency medical services had recovered the body, confirmed it was Amofah, and that he was dead at the point of recovery. The NYPD confirmed the cause of death was suicide by drowning on the following day.

Reactions

Amofah's death highlighted social media platforms' handling of posts by users who appear at risk with mental illness or who are contemplating suicide. YouTube in removing Amofah's final video stated that removal of such videos is standard practice to "reduce the potential for copycat acts of self-harm, videos that express suicidal ideation", and as part of this, sent the uploader information related to national suicide hotlines to provide help.

Because of Amofah's activities in the months prior to his disappearance, some of his followers took these previous events as a humorous performance by Amofah rather than signs of him struggling with his mental health. Following his death, mental health researchers found that several videos Amofah had posted that showed evidence of his troubled state were either taken as jokes or made into memes by some of his viewers. As a result, some took Amofah's final video as yet another joke and disregarded any concern over his well-being; Keemstar initially thought Amofah's final video to be a pre-meditated publicity stunt, and stated after Amofah's death that "I was never fully convinced that he was mentally ill or in trouble because of our private convos." The mental health researchers stressed the need to make more people on social media informed about the signs of mental illness, depression, and suicidal thoughts so that they are able to recognize when people like Amofah are in danger and need support. Keemstar briefly became a target by some of Amofah's fans, who blamed him for Amofah's suicide due to the "DramaAlert" interview and subsequent actions. Amofah's mother wrote to these fans to assure them that Keemstar was in no way responsible for Amofah's death, stating that "Etika loved Keemstar's show" and only wanted to make a memorable appearance on it.

Following Amofah's suicide, fans on Twitter and in emails asked that YouTube re-upload Amofah's final video to help memorialize him. A Change.org petition was started and initially garnered more than 380,000 signatures, but later dropped to 197,000 signatures after many fraudulent signatures from internet bots were removed. It asked for Amofah's original channel to be restored to preserve his legacy. Another Change.org petition with over a million signatures, which later dropped to more than 200,000 signatures for similar reasons, called for Amofah to be buried at YouTube headquarters, which he stated as his wish during an earlier livestream.

Fans erected a memorial on Amofah's behalf on the Manhattan Bridge, leaving letters, fan art, Twizzlers, Joy-Con controllers, and other Nintendo-related products/memorabilia.

References

  1. "Former Dept minister's son, Desmond Amofah, found dead in Manhattan". Graphic Online. June 26, 2019.
  2. ""Why Akufo-Addo Chose Caution, Not Confrontation" by Duodu, Cameron - New African, Issue 538, April 2014 | Online Research Library: Questia". www.questia.com. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  3. "Akufo-Addo destroyed his family's good work - Owuraku Amofa". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  4. "I don't regret supporting Nana Addo – Owuraku Amofa". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  5. Bicks, Emily (June 25, 2019). "Etika's Older Brother Randy Amofah Died in 2010". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  6. "Etika". Genius. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  7. "Desmond Amofah". www.modelmayhem.com. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  8. "Where did the name "Etika" come from?". Twitter. September 7, 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ "Etika: Body found in search is missing YouTuber". BBC News. June 25, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  10. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (June 25, 2019). "Popular YouTuber Etika Dies At 29". Kotaku. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  11. Orjoux, Alanne (June 25, 2019). "Body pulled from the East River is that of missing YouTuber Etika, New York police say". CNN. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  12. ^ Frank, Allegra (October 17, 2016). "Why do people keep making fake Nintendo consoles?". Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  13. ^ Herandez, Patrick (July 2, 2019). "Too many people took Etika's mental health struggles as a joke". Polygon. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  15. D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "YouTuber Reminds Fans How Much Fake Donations Can Hurt". Kotaku. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  16. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "YouTuber Etika Livestreams Himself Getting Detained By Police To 19,000 Viewers". Kotaku. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  17. ^ Hauser, Christine (June 26, 2019). "Etika, a YouTube Personality, Is Mourned by Fans". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  18. ^ "Etika tweets anti-Semitic, homophobic messages—then gets arrested". The Daily Dot. April 29, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  19. ^ Alexander, Julia (June 25, 2019). "Popular YouTuber Desmond 'Etika' Amofah found dead". The Verge. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  20. Vultaggio, Maria (October 26, 2018). "ETIKA RESPONDS TO SUICIDE ATTEMPT RUMORS ON REDDIT, SAYING 'YAY I BROKE THE WORLD'". Newsweek. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  21. Newsweek. April 29, 2019 https://www.newsweek.com/youtube-etika-twitter-sky-williams-health-1408575. Retrieved July 7, 2019. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. Asarch, Steven (April 16, 2019). "What happened to Etika? Streamer handcuffed and hospitalized after suicidal Twitter outburst". Newsweek. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  23. Asarch, Steven (April 29, 2019). "Etika is back on Twitter, posting pictures with guns and anti-semitic ideology". Newsweek. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  24. ^ "Twitch star Etika says he wants to 'purge all life' in bonkers interview". The Daily Dot. May 1, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  25. "Etika reportedly detained after fighting police officer". The Daily Dot. May 2, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  26. ^ Katzowitz, Josh (July 1, 2019). "Etika's mom defends Keemstar, says YouTuber isn't to blame for suicide". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  27. ^ Spangler, Todd (June 25, 2019). "Gaming YouTuber Desmond 'Etika' Amofah Found Dead, NYPD Says". Variety. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  28. Weissmann, Ruth; Eustachewich, Lia (June 21, 2019). "YouTube star Etika vanishes after posting cryptic 'suicidal' video". New York Post. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  29. *"Missing YouTuber Etika's belongings found". June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  30. Lewis, Sophie (June 25, 2019). "Missing YouTuber Desmond "Etika" Amofah found dead in New York". CBS News. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  31. Jacobo, Julia (June 26, 2019). "YouTube gaming personality Desmond 'Etika' Amofah's died by suicide, officials say". ABC News. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  32. Alexander, Julia (June 27, 2019). "YouTuber Etika's death spurs conversation about how viewers react to creators' mental health struggles". The Verge. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  33. Kim, Allen (June 26, 2019). "Fans petition YouTube to restore late vlogger Etika's account". CNN. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  34. Evans, Mel (June 25, 2019). "Etika wanted to be buried in front of YouTube HQ as police confirm gamer's death". Metro. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  35. "Fans Create Memorial for Gamer Etika in New York". Inside Edition. June 28, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2019.

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