Etika

Desmond Daniel Amofah (May 12, 1990 – c. June 19, 2019), better known as Etika, was an American YouTuber and online streamer. He was best known for his highly energetic reactions to Super Smash Bros. character reveals and Nintendo Direct presentations, and for playing and reacting to various games. He was a son of Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah, and a resident of Brooklyn, New York, for most of his life.

For the South African cricketer, see Desmond Daniel.

Etika
Amofah in May 2019
Born
Desmond Daniel Amofah

(1990-05-12)May 12, 1990
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Diedc. June 19, 2019(2019-06-19) (aged 29)
East River, New York City, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by drowning
Other namesIceman
Young Ramsay
Guile-kun
EducationUrban Assembly School for Law and Justice
Occupations
Years active2006–2019
Height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
PartnerChristine Cardona (2011–2017)
Parent(s)Owuraku Amofah (father)
Sabrina Amofah (mother)
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2012–2019
Genres
Subscribers1.3 million (combined)[1]
Total views145 million (combined)[1]
NetworkIndependent
100,000 subscribers2015
Twitch information
Channel
GenreGaming
Websiteetikaworldnetwork.com

Amofah began his YouTube career in 2006, later creating his main YouTube channel, EWNetwork (Etika World Network), in July 2012. His fanbase was dubbed the "JOYCONBOYZ" in reference to the Nintendo Switch controller, the Joy-Con. He began to attain a sizable fanbase following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, with such a rise in prevalence largely stemming from his videos discussing news related to the game. His channel mainly centred around livestream material, namely playthroughs of recently released games and reaction-content. He also produced pre-recorded content.

In October 2018, Amofah uploaded pornography to the EWNetwork channel, resulting in its termination. Prior to this, he had exhibited signs of mental distress. After apologizing on his subreddit, r/EtikaRedditNetwork, Amofah created another channel, EtikaFRFX (Etika For Real Facts), which would also be terminated in April 2019 for identical reasons. He proceeded to suffer a series of breakdowns and was detained by police, streaming said detainment live to his Instagram followers. With two channels terminated within the space of six months, Amofah would go on to create a channel solely dedicated to livestream content, E Live. He also uploaded pre-recorded content to his personal account he created in 2006, TR1Iceman.

During the last months of his life, Amofah appeared mentally unwell, threatening to commit suicide on several occasions. He was hospitalized multiple times under police restraint. On the evening of June 19, 2019, Amofah would go missing. That night, an apologetic video was uploaded to his TR1Iceman channel, in which he admitted to being mentally ill and suicidal. His belongings were discovered on the pedestrian walkway of the Manhattan Bridge later that night, and his body was recovered from the East River on June 24 by the New York City Police Department, who confirmed his death online the next day. On June 26, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner concluded that Amofah had drowned after jumping from the Manhattan Bridge.

Amofah's death was met with expressions of both shock and grief by fans and fellow YouTubers alike, with many citing his case as an example of the indifference typically expressed towards mental health – it has been widely regarded that the signs of Amofah's mental deterioration were either downplayed or ignored prior to his suicide.[2][3][4] Several memorials and murals were set up around the New York City area for Amofah shortly following his death, while various tributes were paid to him honoring his career.

Early life

Desmond Daniel Amofah was born on May 12, 1990,[‡ 1] in Brooklyn, New York, to father Owuraku Amofah, a Ghanaian politician and lawyer from Kibi,[5][6] and mother Sabrina Amofah.[7][8] Amofah had several siblings, including an older brother, Randy Amofah (1982–2010), who died from an asthma attack.[7] He also had a half-brother, Cardinal Valery, who ventured into online video-creation following his death.[9]

Amofah attended the public school Shell Bank Junior High School for one year. He would be pulled out of the school by his mother following his repeated fighting with other students; in a 2018 livestream, Amofah stated that his "most insane" fight took place at Shell Bank, in which he and another student engaged in an "intense" brawl over a girl. They became friends afterward.[‡ 2]

Amofah attended Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ), a small law-themed college preparatory public high school. He graduated in 2008. While he attended the school, Amofah made several DVDs in a series called "SLJ FAM."[‡ 3] He was also in a club known as the Free Food Mafia, recalling in a livestream that the club was formed for the sole purpose of taking food from other clubs' parties.[‡ 4] Amofah attended the SLJ reunion 10 years after graduation.[‡ 5]

Prior to his career as a gaming YouTuber, Amofah was active in modeling and rapping, having uploaded rap videos from 2007 to 2009 under the name "Iceman."[10] During that time, he released an independently-produced mixtape titled Written in Ice in 2007.[8] Amofah started modeling in his early twenties and continued until 2015. He owned an account on the website Model Mayhem, where he stated he was "quite tall" and that his last measurement of height was "six feet, six inches."[‡ 6][11][12]

Amofah stated in a tweet that the pseudonym "Etika" came from the 2003 video game Sonic Battle. In the game, players could input a cheat code titled "EkiTa". When Amofah was 12, he decided to switch the T and the K to create his username as he "liked that result better".[‡ 7][3][13] He was inspired to grow a high top fade after playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.[‡ 8]

YouTube career

Having previously used the YouTube account "TR1Iceman", Amofah created a new YouTube account under the username "EWNetwork" (Etika World Network) in 2012 to broadcast his gaming and reaction streams.[13][14] Prior to the termination of the channel in 2018, he had more than 800,000 subscribers.[15] Within months after creating a replacement YouTube channel, "EtikaFRFX", he had gained 300,000 subscribers,[10] and reached over 130,000 subscribers on his "TR1Iceman" channel.[16] In total, Amofah accumulated over 1 million subscribers across his multiple YouTube channels.[8]

Amofah's content was typically Nintendo-focused.[17] Initially centered around gaming news, Amofah's video output consisted of Let's Play videos of Nintendo games alongside reaction videos of gaming announcements, mainly of Nintendo Direct presentations.[10] Many of his reactions to such presentations usually involved him screaming and falling out of his chair in elated shock and tossing objects around his room.[2][3] Amofah's channel garnered popularity in 2014 due to his reaction videos covering new information about the then-unreleased fighting game Super Smash Bros. 4.[10] One of Amofah's most notable reactions of the game was his reaction to the Pokémon character Mewtwo being revealed as a DLC fighter; during the reaction, Amofah excitedly screams "Mewtwo!" several times.[10][18] The video became Amofah's most viewed video on EWNetwork, with it being retweeted by the creator of the game, Masahiro Sakurai.[10][19] A similar video where Amofah reacted to the announcement of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also went viral in 2018.[20] Amofah's channel continued to grow in popularity as he made more videos centered around his reactions to gaming news and YouTube drama, and according to him, he was earning over $300,000 a year through stream donations.[3]

Amofah dubbed his fans the "JOYCONBOYZ", after the Nintendo Switch controllers known as the Joy-Con,[15] and would frequently end his videos with his signature catchphrase "Take care of yourselves, and of course, as usual, please have yourself a damn good one."[21] In Japan, Amofah was commonly referred to as "Guile-kun" in reference to his hairstyle, which resembled the character Guile from the fighting game Street Fighter.[19][22] Despite focusing on Nintendo-related content, Amofah also made playthroughs of various video games such as Call of Duty,[10] Overwatch,[23] and Doki Doki Literature Club!,[24] and was also a fan of games such as Final Fantasy 7 and Minecraft.[18] Amofah enjoyed anime and Japanese culture, frequently streaming himself watching series such as Attack on Titan while providing commentary.[3][13][19]

Amofah briefly changed his channel name to "Young Ramsay" in 2015 after cooking scallops, having been inspired by the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.[3] Soon afterward, Ramsay himself followed Amofah on Twitter.[‡ 9] In June 2017, Amofah livestreamed himself browsing the deep web. After receiving an unexpected phone call on his personal number following the stream, Amofah would be discouraged from producing further deep web content.[‡ 10] On December 24, 2018, Amofah did a Christmas livestream which featured himself dressed as Santa Claus.[‡ 11]

In November 2016, two videos of Amofah's where he purported to have a Nintendo Switch console before its 2017 release came under scrutiny by fans. It was later revealed that the model Amofah was using was 3D-printed by fellow YouTuber "Sandqvist" at his request.[17][25][26]

In June 2017, Amofah revealed himself to be the victim of multiple "chargebacks", or "fake donations" of large amounts of money sent to his PayPal account via stream donations, which would jostle Amofah with hundreds of dollars in processing fees.[27]

Mental decline

"Let my story be one that advises caution on too much of the social media shit, man. It can fuck you up. It can give you an image of what you want your life to be, and it can get blown completely out of proportion, dawg. Unfortunately, it consumed me and it made me forget about consequences to my actions. It made me forget that we have to pay for the things that we say. It made me forget that there are – there is weight behind words. I was so consumed with this great image that I had that I thought I was invulnerable with everything. I thought, 'oh, I'm destined for this, nothing can stop me'."

– Amofah in his final video.[14]

On October 23, 2018, Amofah was temporarily suspended from Twitter for using the word nigga in a tweet. He responded to the suspension by uploading a video of himself frequently saying the word and defending himself for using it. Amofah stated that the word had been adopted by black people "from a tool of hatred into a form of love" and should no longer be treated as a racial slur. During the video, Amofah name-checked rappers Travis Scott and Drake, who use the word in their songs.[11][3] Two days later, Amofah uploaded pornography to EWNetwork (then renamed to Etika), which violated YouTube's policies and consequently led to the channel's termination.[28][29] He was also banned from Twitch that year for using the word faggot during a stream.[30] Following the termination of the 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 suicidal in nature, which quickly stirred up a panic within his following.[28][31] Amofah took to social media that evening to confirm his well-being. Along with this, other streamers professed to have seen him safe and sound in person, so as to allay his followers' fears.[32] He later apologized on his subreddit r/EtikaRedditNetwork.[28] On October 29, 2018, Amofah confirmed on his Twitch stream that he purposefully deleted his YouTube channel because he did not receive ad revenue from the channel.[33]

After the termination of his first YouTube account, Amofah subsequently created a new YouTube channel in October 2018 called "EtikaFRFX," which he explained would comprise more sincere content where "he would be more himself".[10] The channel would be terminated in April 2019 after Amofah posted pornographic material once again.[10] On April 16, 2019, following said termination, Amofah posted several tweets related to suicide, the first one stating "Savonarola! I'm going to kill myself! You lot certainly have already. Shame on you all, silly humans."[‡ 12][34] He then tweeted he would kill himself by shooting himself in the head.[34][35] This tweet subsequently led to his detainment and hospitalization.[34] Christine Cardona, who had dated Amofah from 2011 to 2017, confirmed his well-being, and that she had been "observing him all day".[34][36] Days later, Amofah posted a photoshopped picture of himself holding a gun, which Cardona later confirmed was fake.[4][28]

Amofah on June 4, 2019, 15 days before his disappearance

On April 29, after tweeting a vast quantity of cryptic messages, including homophobic and ethnic slurs (that were promptly deleted),[37] he blocked close friends of his and other YouTubers.[28][30] Later that day, he live-streamed himself being detained by police to over 19,000 viewers on Instagram Live, after a concerned fan notified police about his alarmingly erratic nature during a livestream.[28][38] Before being detained, Amofah shouted phrases and quotes from his apartment window, including "The revolution will not be televised, only felt," which he also posted to Twitter repeatedly.[‡ 13][35][39]

One day after the stream, Amofah was interviewed by the host of the Internet news show DramaAlert, Daniel "Keemstar" Keem.[40][41] In the interview, Amofah made various statements primarily referencing death and his views on the world, at one point mentioning that he was the "antichrist" and that he wanted to "purge all life."[40][41] Keem questioned whether Amofah's actions leading up to the interview were publicity stunts, and if Amofah had had a genuine mental breakdown.[40] Denying that his actions were a publicity stunt, Amofah later claimed that life was a "video game" and that "death means nothing";[40] Keem then asked Amofah that if life were a simulation, "then why live?... Just jump off a cliff? If it's just a simulation, who cares?"[35][41] Following the interview, Amofah was detained again that week for assaulting a police officer.[2][42]

Amofah's erratic behavior around this time was perceived by a significant portion of the online world as humorous in nature, rather than symptomatic of genuine mental ailment. The video where Amofah assaulted a police officer was posted online with the caption "LMFAOOOOOOOO," with the clip featuring witnesses to the event laughing.[2] During the majority of Amofah's livestreams in 2019, a large cohort of viewers would frequently spam clown emojis.[2] Amongst his fanbase, rumors circulated that Amofah's various controversies formed part of an alternate reality game,[2][13] with such rumors emerging from a stream Amofah posted in September of 2017 and becoming more prominent following his first channel termination.[3]

Disappearance and death

At midnight on June 20, 2019, a video titled "I'm sorry" was uploaded to Amofah's personal YouTube channel "TR1Iceman".[31] In the video, Amofah admitted to having mental health issues, struggling with the attention he had gained from streaming and apologized for pushing people away from him.[14][43] YouTube soon removed the video for violating its Community Guidelines, though Amofah's fans reposted the video to other outlets.[31][44] After leaving some of his personal belongings on the pedestrian walkway, Amofah jumped from the Manhattan Bridge and drowned.[3]

Amofah was reported missing to the New York Police Department (NYPD) the day after the "I'm sorry" video was uploaded.[43][45] Shortly after his disappearance, fellow Internet personalities and his fans tried to reach out to him to offer their help and show their appreciation for his work over the years.[29][31] On the night of June 19, 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.[45][46]

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.[47] By the morning of June 25, the NYPD and emergency medical services had recovered the body, confirmed it was Amofah, and stated that he was dead at the point of recovery.[41][43] The following day, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed the cause of death was suicide by drowning.[48][49]

Reactions

Amofah's death highlighted social media platforms' handling of posts by users who appear at risk of mental illness or who are contemplating suicide. YouTube, in removing Amofah's final video, stated that removal of such videos is standard practice in order to "reduce the potential for copycat acts of self-harm, videos that express suicidal ideation", and as part of this, sent information to Amofah's account related to national suicide hotlines in order to provide help.[29]

Following the announcement of his death, Amofah became the top trending topic on Twitter worldwide as many of his fans posted tributes for him.[29][50] Several YouTubers also offered their condolences to Amofah on social media.[29][51] PewDiePie was one of the first YouTubers to post a tribute to Amofah, stating in a tweet: "Hard to grasp that he’s actually gone, left us way too soon. You will continue to live on in our hearts. Rest in peace Etika." James Charles also took to Twitter, stating: "RIP Etika. My heart is so so heavy hearing this news. I hope that the community FINALLY realizes that creators are human beings with real, valid feelings." The official "YouTube Creators" Twitter account also posted a tribute to Amofah, stating: "We mourn the loss of Etika, a beloved member of our gaming creator community." Rapper Lil Nas X posted a tribute to Amofah, stating that he "didn’t know Amofah very well" but did know that he "inspired many and made a lot of people very happy."[51]

Mental health researchers found several videos Amofah had posted that showed evidence of his troubled state but were taken as jokes by some of his viewers, rather than as genuine signs of mental illness.[2][4] As a result, some took Amofah's final video as another joke and disregarded any concern over his well-being;[35] Keem initially thought Amofah's final video was a premeditated publicity stunt, stating after Amofah's death, "I was never fully convinced that he was mentally ill or in trouble because of our private convos."[2] The aforementioned mental health researchers stressed the need to inform more people on social media about the signs of mental illness, depression, and suicidal thoughts so that they can better recognize when people in a mindset similar to Amofah's are in danger and need support.[2][4]

The circumstances surrounding Amofah's death also prompted discussions on social media about dealing with mental health as a content creator. In an article from The Verge, internet personalities such as Asmongold and CoryxKenshin lamented how the negativity targeted towards content creators can be detrimental to their well-being, and that people who leave negative remarks on social media do so with the perception that online content creators are immune to such criticism, due to their ability to make money online.[52] Fiona Nova, content creator and friend of Amofah, also condemned his fans on Twitter for disregarding his signs of mental illness as jokes, while Cardona stated that Amofah was attracted to the vitriol he received.[52] Writing about the struggles with mental health that Amofah faced, Patricia Hernandez of Polygon reflected on how Amofah wasn't taken seriously enough both from his fans and from mental health facilities.[2] Hernandez remarked on Amofah's situation that "it's the gnawing, uneasy realization that everything was unfolding in front of our eyes, clearly and openly, and it didn't make any difference. It's the sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, we — viewers, social media, platforms like YouTube — let this happen."[2]

Keem briefly became a target of some of Amofah's fans, who blamed him for Amofah's suicide due to the DramaAlert interview and statements made in tweets before and following the interview.[53] Keem later posted screenshots of a series of texts allegedly sent to him by Amofah's mother Sabrina, which stated that "Etika loved Keemstar's show" and had only wanted to make a memorable appearance on it.[53] Despite Sabrina's alleged defense of Keem, he was later accused of influencing Amofah's death in May 2020 by Internet personality Ethan Klein.[54][55] In response to this accusation, he stated: "His mother came out with a statement saying that I am in no way responsible for the tragic loss of Etika, and he’s still doing it. He just made this big rant and said stuff that I have never said."[55] Keem also claimed that Amofah's friends and family had told Klein to stop using Amofah's suicide to attack him.[55] Shortly after Amofah's death, YouTuber ImJayStation posted a video where he attempted to contact Amofah from beyond the grave, which was widely criticized for being disrespectful.[56]

Legacy

Amofah's death led to numerous tributes across social media honoring his career.[29][57] In 2019, The New York Times Magazine posted a tribute acknowledging Amofah's impact as a YouTuber, with writer Jamie Lauren Keiles noting that his content's appeal "had always been figuring out which parts were real," and that he "was himself until the end."[3] The same year, Kotaku included Amofah in their list of the top gamers of the year, remarking that his death prompted many of his fans and other internet personalities to discuss the impact of mental health on social media.[57] BBC listed the news of Amofah's death as one of the biggest technology news stories of 2019, noting the various commemorations of him throughout the year; writer Leo Kelion stated that "Etika's claim in his final video that 'this world's gonna forget me' shows no sign of coming true any time soon."[58]

Following Amofah's suicide, both fans and YouTubers on social media asked for YouTube to re-upload Amofah's final video to help memorialize him.[59][60] A Change.org petition, which also asked for Amofah's original channel to be restored to preserve his legacy,[16][59] was started and garnered more than 380,000 signatures.[61] Another Change.org petition which reached over two million signatures called for Amofah to be buried at YouTube headquarters, which he stated was his wish during an earlier livestream.[62] YouTube also attracted criticism for not including a tribute to Amofah in the 2019 installment of YouTube Rewind.[58][63]

A memorial was erected on the Manhattan Bridge by Amofah's fans following his suicide in June 2019

Several days after his death, fans erected a memorial on Amofah's behalf on the pedestrian walkway of the Manhattan Bridge, leaving letters, fan art, Twizzlers, Nintendo-related products, and other memorabilia.[64] In the Super Smash Bros. community, a tournament was held as a tribute to Amofah featuring the antagonist Ridley from the video game series Metroid, a character Amofah often played.[65] He was also awarded the "Best Reaction" award at the 3rd Annual Smashies Awards which took place at Super Smash Con 2019.[66]

On June 25, 2019, YouTuber and web designer Abe Hunter announced he was the owner and operator of Amofah's website,[‡ 14] and subsequently converted it into a fundraiser site where 100% of the profits were to be donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Amofah's name.[‡ 15][67] On July 15, 2019, on behalf of the Joy-Con Boyz community, Abe Hunter donated the $11,315.25 raised in memory of Amofah.[67][‡ 16] Several days later on July 21, 2019, fellow YouTuber PewDiePie and American actor Jack Black started a fundraiser on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe for the NAMI.[58] PewDiePie and Black streamed themselves playing Minecraft together to raise money for their fundraiser, with the former donating $10,000 and the stream raising over $30,000 in total.[68] Later in 2019, Abe Hunter and YouTuber Double-A worked with mural artist BK Foxx and graffiti artists Kestaadm and JMZWalls to create a 40-feet-long mural completed by November 2019 dedicated to Amofah in Bushwick, Brooklyn.[67] The mural was created to celebrate Amofah's life and to help bring awareness to mental health issues.[21][67] The mural's location was added as a virtual "PokéStop" in the augmented reality game Pokémon Go in February 2020 after over 350,000 people requested Niantic to add it in memory of Amofah.[69][70] Abe Hunter, Double-A and BK Foxx would organize another mural in dedication of Amofah in 2022.[71]

In August 2019, an Indiegogo campaign was started on Amofah's behalf. The charity campaign was created to earn donations for The Jed Foundation. Contributors to the campaign received a custom-made pair of Etika-themed Joy-Con shells dubbed "Etikons". The campaign had raised over $10,000 by the end of 2019. Additional Etikons had been made and sold online after the campaign, but according to the individual selling the shells, Nintendo had sent them a cease and desist letter around September 2020 demanding they halt all further sales of the remaining stock due to the use of trademarked terms on the shells. Nintendo subsequently received criticism for this decision.[72][73]

Amofah's Twitter account was hacked on August 24, 2019, which resulted in the account being suspended. The hacker wrote a series of offensive and disrespectful tweets, which gained mass backlash from Amofah's fans and friends. In response to the hacking, Twitter temporarily suspended Amofah's account and later reinstated it after the hacker's tweets were deleted.[74] On February 14, 2020, Amofah's Twitter account was suspended a second time, but it was reinstated following requests from Amofah's fans.[70]

In February 2021, fans of Amofah pointed out that the second DLC Fighter Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate contains several characters Amofah had expressed a strong liking towards, including Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Min Min from Arms.[18]

In January 2022, a group named EtikaPunks produced a non-fungible token (NFT) collection of the same name, featuring pixelated drawings of Amofah in a style similar to CryptoPunks, one of which featured a bridge in the background (alluding to his suicide). The collection was condemned by Amofah's fans who considered it disrespectful and an attempt to "monetize Etika's passing".[75]

See also

References

Secondary sources
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Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

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