Nintendo vlogger 'Etika' found dead in East River from apparent suicide

[Cal Jeffrey]

What just happened? The YouTuber known as Etika was found dead by the New York City Police Department on Monday. Etika, whose real name is Desmond Amofah, was reported missing last week after he had posted a video that seemed to be a suicide note.

The YouTuber uploaded the video to his alternate YT channel TR1Iceman on June 17, but it has since been taken down. The video was of Amofah expressing “suicidal thoughts.” The incident was not the first sign that he may have been struggling with mental illness.

Amofah’s primary channel was takedown back in October 2018 because he had been uploading pornography. Alice Pika, his girlfriend at the time, said that he had a mental breakdown and had been committed to a local hospital. Amofah later confirmed that this was true and claimed on a Twitch stream that he intentionally got his YouTube channel deleted because he was demonetized. He also came forward saying that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Have you seen Desmond Amofah aka Etika?
He was last heard from June 19 at about 8PM by phone. He is 29 years old, approx 6 feet tall, and 160 lbs. He is a known @YouTube blogger and has many people concerned after a recent video. Call @NYPDTips anonymously with info 800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/SfaDa2OifJ

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 20, 2019

The NYPD acknowledged Amofah’s disappearance on June 20 when it tweeted his picture asking for help finding him. According to the New York Post, police found several of his belongings on the side of the Manhattan Bridge on June 22. Items included his wallet, cellphone, laptop, clothing, and his Nintendo Switch.

CNBC reports that on June 24, the NYPD was notified that someone had found a body in the East River near Pier 16. This location is only about a half a mile away from the Manhattan Bridge. New York police officials tweeted today confirming the body was Amofah’s.

Fans and fellow creators had been hoping that he was okay and tried reaching out to him. YouTube personality Daniel “Keemstar” Keem addressed Amofah via Twitter, urging him to get help and let everyone know he was alright.

Dear @Etika , listen man if you can see this right now please let the internet know you are alive. Yes some people will be mad but trust me way more people will be happy to know you are alive & safe somewhere.

— KEEM (@KEEMSTAR) June 23, 2019

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

The community mourns the loss with an outpouring of condolences and support for his family. There is also a movement to reinstate Amofah’s final video along with numbers to mental health and suicide prevention phone numbers.

It would also be nice to see his original channel returned and memorialized (minus the porn). It contained a ton of Nintendo-related videos that fans and newcomers would be sure to enjoy. However, that might not even be possible if YouTube completely deleted the content.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80673-nintendo-vlogger-etika-found-dead-east-river-apparent.html

 

[Dimitrios]

Some people can't handle easy success. Sadly I knew a few old friends that died from fame and having too much money and O.D.

 

[captaincranky]

I must be watching too many D*ck Wolf "Law & Order" reruns. I didn't think anybody ever ended up in New York's East River of their own volition

 

[vedolino]

Etika was real funny guy, I watched him on regular basis. This news hit me really hard..why not just quit social media & YT, instead of quitting his whole life..

 

[Darth Shiv]

Etika was real funny guy, I watched him on regular basis. This news hit me really hard..why not just quit social media & YT, instead of quitting his whole life..

Perspective like that can be hard in really dark times.

 

[Jules Mark]

Death Note?

 

[DWall]

Etika was real funny guy, I watched him on regular basis. This news hit me really hard..why not just quit social media & YT, instead of quitting his whole life..

Perspective like that can be hard in really dark times.

Especially if he was bipolar too. We might all know someone with the condition but we never know what's going on inside their head.

 

[captaincranky]

Especially if he was bipolar too. We might all know someone with the condition but we never know what's going on inside their head.

We're all in essence, a bit "Bipolar". We have up days, we have down days. It's the degree of difference or distance from the high to the low, that makes it a "condition".

People can accomplish some of their best creative work, while in a manic state. But, when the bottom falls out, so to speak, it's a murky dimension where life can seem not worth living.

Quite frankly, this condition is most likely quite prevalent in creative circles. and for others, many supply their own "creative mania", with stimulants such as cocaine. I hear the bottom drops out when you run out of that stuff too. Of course it's also possible to snort your own business out from under you

 

[gamoniac]

R.I.P.

 

[Morris Minor]

Number 1 killer of men in the west under 40 years old, something really needs to be done about this.

 

[wiyosaya]

Especially if he was bipolar too. We might all know someone with the condition but we never know what's going on inside their head.

We're all in essence, a bit "Bipolar". We have up days, we have down days. It's the degree of difference or distance from the high to the low, that makes it a "condition".

People can accomplish some of their best creative work, while in a manic state. But, when the bottom falls out, so to speak, it's a murky dimension where life can seem not worth living.

Quite frankly, this condition is most likely quite prevalent in creative circles. and for others, many supply their own "creative mania", with stimulants such as cocaine. I hear the bottom drops out when you run out of that stuff too. Of course it's also possible to snort your own business out from under you

I think you have a big part of it covered, Captain.

From my point of view, it is in part what society values and our vision of having what society values to make ourselves valuable, and on that point, he felt demonized.

I am far from saying he was right or that society itself is right. One has to live in society, and it seems to me all the more in these times that in order to do so for some, one must be content with what one has. He had more than others in many respects, but having more and being successful does not mean that one should be allowed to do anything they want because, society will shut those that do down especially if it goes against the prevailing mores of society whether or not those mores are representative of what is truly the best for all.

It sounds to me like he felt like many creatives, alone like an alien on this planet. Surviving that has to be grounded in finding what is valuable for one's self.

As I see it, you cannot teach that to someone. One must find that on their own.

 

[Morris Minor]

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

nietzsche

 

[DukeJukem]

Especially if he was bipolar too. We might all know someone with the condition but we never know what's going on inside their head.

We're all in essence, a bit "Bipolar". We have up days, we have down days. It's the degree of difference or distance from the high to the low, that makes it a "condition".

People can accomplish some of their best creative work, while in a manic state. But, when the bottom falls out, so to speak, it's a murky dimension where life can seem not worth living.

Quite frankly, this condition is most likely quite prevalent in creative circles. and for others, many supply their own "creative mania", with stimulants such as cocaine. I hear the bottom drops out when you run out of that stuff too. Of course it's also possible to snort your own business out from under you

As a bipolar person myself I have to say that's the most ignorant **** I've ever read. Normal people don't have these down days unless something tragic happens usually and when they are down they're pretty easy to cheer up, unlike a bipolar person with possible depression. A bipolar person can have an up and down day 27 times a day.

 

[captaincranky]

As a bipolar person myself I have to say that's the most ignorant **** I've ever read. Normal people don't have these down days unless something tragic happens usually and when they are down they're pretty easy to cheer up, unlike a bipolar person with possible depression. A bipolar person can have an up and down day 27 times a day.

Sounds like you need to hit the lithium, stat.

If that doesn't help, someone with that frequency and severity of episodes, could possibly benefit from being institutionalized.

 

[wiyosaya]

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

nietzsche

"Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself."

"The wound is the place where the light enters you."

"Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about."

"When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be."

"It’s your road, and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you."

All by Rumi.

 

[captaincranky]

Number 1 killer of men in the west under 40 years old, something really needs to be done about this.

Interesting to know. Up to now I had been thinking it was the 9 mm handgun.

The causes of death fluctuate fairly often. As you pointed out. Although it does seem like accidental death is also at the top of the list.

Although the complete picture is obviously to complex to discuss in a single post. Here's what CNN news has to say on the topic; https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/01/health/youth-injury-death-rate-cdc-study/index.html

 

[captaincranky]

"Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself."

"The wound is the place where the light enters you."

"Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about."

"When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be."

"It’s your road, and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you."

All by Rumi.

During my feckless youth, (of course it's anybody's guess when that "youth" ended and my feckless adulthood began), I was in a club trying to pick up a young lady. She asked me what I did for a living. I said ,"I'm a philosopher". To which she replied, "so you're out of work huh?

 

[wiyosaya]

During my feckless youth, (of course it's anybody's guess when that "youth" ended and my feckless adulthood began), I was in a club trying to pick up a young lady. She asked me what I did for a living. I said ,"I'm a philosopher". To which she replied, "so you're out of work huh?

Unfortunately, she did not finish that statement off with "but are you multi-talented?"

 

[captaincranky]

@wiyosaya To which I would have replied "You betcha! I'd **** **** **** til the top of your head caved in. Or perhaps, "my rod and my staff would gladly comfort thee".

Oh They can't yank a post based on a phrase borrowed from the bible, can they?

 

[captaincranky]

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

nietzsche

The "Doors" Jim Morrison tacked this little rather diffuse snippet onto the end of their song, "The Soft Parade":

When all else fails
We can whip the horse's eyes
And make them sleep
And cry

I've read Nietzsche, (although I'm not too confident of what, or how much, I've retained). Still, the story of his final breakdown stuck with me.

Only one person on "YouTube Answers", was able to make the connection between Nietzsche's fate: and Morrison's lyrics.

"It s a nietzschean reference, one of many in Jim s lyrics. The story tells Nietzsche saw a man whipping his horse to death, making he feel sick about humanity and very empathic to the horse. Nietzsche had a mental breakdown after witnessing this:.

Link to the song's entire "lyrics" https://genius.com/The-doors-the-soft-parade-lyrics

I didn't put up the entire song, out of consideration for possible copyright issues

Nietzsche was a tragic figure, sickly, drug addicted(?), with poor eyesight. His writings about the "uber mensch", have caused me to label him a "comic book philosopher", in that in many cases, the people who create superheroes in comics, are often living out their ego's wishes, fantasies and desires through the characters they create.

 

[wiyosaya]

@wiyosaya To which I would have replied "You betcha! I'd **** **** **** til the top of your head caved in. Or perhaps, "my rod and my staff would gladly comfort thee".

Oh They can't yank a post a phrase borrowed from the bible, can they?

That wasn't one of your aspects I was thinking of.

 

[captaincranky]

That wasn't one of your aspects I was thinking of.

So you're saying you think she'd have come along, if I told her she'd get to see me build an RC model airplane, hand turn a chess set, paint an motorcycle, or read a Hermann Hesse novel with me?

 

[wiyosaya]

So you're saying you think She'd have come along, if I told her she'd get to see me build an RC model airplane, hand turn a chess set, paint an motorcycle, or read a Hermann Hesse novel with me?

Maybe, IDK.

In my utopian world, accepting me for what I am is at the top of the list of my requirements. If she had, you may have been able to rule out her only being interested in your money.

I guess this was before you had other gainful means of employment, though - a man of many talents you being?

 

[captaincranky]

Maybe, IDK.

In my utopian world, accepting me for what I am is at the top of the list of my requirements. If she had, you may have been able to rule out her only being interested in your money.

Dude, this in a fancy suburban restaurant which turned into a nightclub on the weekends. Of course she was looking for someone with money..

I guess this was before you had other gainful means of employment, though - a man of many talents you being?

I honestly can't remember if I was "transitioning jobs" at the time.

That's so nice the spin you put on that. I usually advertise under the more self deprecating heading, "Jack of all trades, master of none".

I have my own Garfield. He could be this guy's brother:

I really keep meaning to set up an online photo account to link my own photos.

Oh well, I'm only 70, I'll get around to it eventually... :shrug:

 

[wiyosaya]

Dude, this in a fancy suburban restaurant which turned into a nightclub on the weekends. Of course she was looking for someone with money..

I honestly can't remember if I was "transitioning jobs" at the time.

That's so nice the spin you put on that. I usually advertise under the more self deprecating heading, "Jack of all trades, master of none".

I have my own Garfield. He could be this guy's brother:

I really keep meaning to set up an online photo account to link my own photos.

Oh well, I'm only 70, I'll get around to it eventually... :shrug:

She was following the money. Well, IMO, she did not deserve you!

I'm glad you got the compliment - it was meant as such. As I see you, you are obviously an intelligent man!

Your cat is awesome - that is a great photo - your skill behind that lens shows!

You are right! Your cat and Garfield could be twins!