(Warning: This Article contains mentions of Suicide and Mental Health struggles. If these things upset you, do not read further. We also included a link to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline Website at the bottom of this article.)

This is a rather heavy story, for those that were fans of Etika. Those that enjoyed the various meme clips going around featuring him, and those that just have empathy, were saddened when Desmond “Etika” Amofah was found dead.

Amofah was a popular streamer that is more widely known in the larger gaming community for his over-the-top reactions to Super Smash Bros. trailers. He was mainly a fan of Nintendo stuff, and with the release of the Nintendo Switch, came to dub his community as the “Joycon Boyz.”

Since October, Amofah openly struggled with mental health issues. On October 9th, he got his own YouTube channel deleted by uploading porn and posted “and now, it’s my turn to die. I love you all. Keep fighting for me, ok?” on his subreddit. At the time he did not go through with the implied suicide threat. There have been other incidents since then, such as the incident in April where he was detained for his own sake and another a few weeks later where he assaulted what appeared to be a police officer.

Sadly, the worst case scenario occurred. On June 19th, Amofah released a video, which has since been deleted and re-uploaded around the internet discussing suicide. Etika disappeared shortly afterward, leading to a widespread search for his whereabouts. The NYPD put out a public notice on June 20th and on June 22nd, investigators found Amofah’s personal belongings along the Manhattan Bridge, as reported by the New York Post. On June 25th, a body found the previous night in the East River was recovered and confirmed to be Amofah’s. While the specifics of his death weren’t revealed at time of writing, the most likely reasoning for his death, is suicide.

We mourn the loss of Etika, a beloved member of our gaming creator community. All of us at YouTube are sending condolences to his loved ones and fans.

— YouTube Creators (@YTCreators) June 25, 2019

Since the announcement, there has been an outpouring of grief from the gaming and YouTuber community, regardless of whether they knew Amofah or not. Many big names expressed condolences and sadness at the news. An account called “Memories of Etika” was established to memorialize Amofah through collecting clips that people considered were some of his best moments. Others choose to honor Amofah through fanart, such as the background image made by Reddit user BotchedMuffin. More than a million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Amofah to be buried at YouTube HQ, which was a desire Amofah expressed at some point.

Amofah’s death has also encouraged discussions on mental illness and suicide, with phone numbers for suicide hotlines being shared around social media. If you know somebody in your life that needs help, please be there for them and get them the help they need.

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