Etika's Suicide

Overview

Etika Suicide refers to the death^[16][17][18] of famous YouTuber Desmond Amofah, otherwise known as Etika. After months of making posts which alarmed onlookers about his mental health, he posted a video on June 20th, 2019 which saw him walking in New York City and apologizing to multiple people he's harmed or wronged and saying he would not live to see the release of games and media. To viewers, the video seemed like a suicide note. Concerns were further raised when the NYPD tweeted looking for tips in finding Etika^[1], who had not been heard from since 8:00 P.M. the day before the video was uploaded. Local news also ran reports about his disappearance.^[19][20] The NYPD confirmed that he was dead on June 25th, 2019.^[13]

Background

Etika has scared fans about his mental health by alluding to suicide and and giving megalomaniacal statements since October of 2018. Over the course of the following several months, he had several incidents where he tweeted about killing himself, and at one point live-streamed the police arriving at his house and arresting him for his safety. The following day, he compared himself to the Antichrist in an interview with Keemstar. On May 1st, 2019 he was filmed fighting an NYPD officer.

On June 19th, 2019, Etika posted a video to YouTube apologizing to his fans, saying he was sorry for betraying their trust and pushing them away. He stated he was not suicidal in previous incidents, saying "in an attempt to be edgy, I fucked up my entire life." It also featured Etika talking as though he would not be alive for much longer, saying things like "there will be games, movies, technology I'll never see. I'll never see Attack on Titan." He also said "the world will be better off without me." To many, it appeared like a suicide note. The video was deleted from YouTube (reupload shown below).

Developments

Initially, people were divided on the legitimacy of Etika's condition, as some of his previous scares had been considered hoaxes or him being "edgy," which he alludes to in the video. This was compounded by the fact that on June 2nd, Etika tweeted asking "When should I have my next mental breakdown y'all? what days y'all niggas got off?? 😂👌🏾." User @absolutemystic suggested June 20th, as "most people will be out of school," to which Etika replied "I'll put this on my calendar" (shown below).

This led some, like Keemstar, to believe Etika's June 19th video was staged and insincere. Others including @3andrewsinarow argued that the exchange could be interpreted as Etika secretly asking his fans for a date on which to kill himself and then receiving one.

On June 20th, the NYPD posted a tweet saying Etika was missing and asking for tips.^[1] The tweet gained over 23,000 retweets and 36,000 likes (shown below). Fox New York ran a news story about his disappearance,^[2] as did more global publications like Kotaku^[3] and Metro.^[4]

The news continued generating discussion on Twitter the following day. Keemstar^[5] said he had "received intel" Etika was "likely not dead" and just laying low (shown below, left). User @nbh1883^[6] wrote that this was "not a joke," underlying the gravity of the situation as oppose to previous Etika outbursts (shown below, right).

Discovery of Personal Belongings

On June 22nd, 2019, Etika's personal belongings, including his wallet, laptop bag, cell phone, clothes, and Nintendo Switch were found on the Manhattan Bridge in New York City,^[7] suggesting that he may have jumped off the bridge. Keemstar^[8] tweeted "I think we lost him, guys," when reporting the news, gaining over 5,700 retweets and 31,000 likes (shown below, left). User @MysticDistance^[9] maintained a thread of information about Etika's disappearance, keeping track on rumors and false information being circulated online (shown below, right).

Discovery of Body

On June 24th, 2019, police discovered a body floating in New York City's East River, a half mile away from where Etika's belongings were found. As of June 25th, the body had not been identified.^[10] The New York Police Department said: "The medical examiner will determine the cause of death and the investigation is ongoing. Identification of the deceased is pending proper family notification. The medical examiner will confirm identification." The Verge journalist Julia Alexander^[11] tweeted several updates about the story, noting that the NYPD was "holding the identification until the family is notified" (example shown below, left). Meanwhile, Keemstar^[12] tweeted about the story as well, included a censored image of police recovering the body (shown below, right).

On June 25th, the NYPDNews tweeted that Etika had been found deceased.^[13] They did not specify if the body they pulled from the East River was Etika's in the tweet. However, multiple news sources confirmed^[14][15] that the body was Etika's.

Crowdfunding Campaigns and Petitions

The day of the body's discovery, several community-driven campaigns appeared online in honor and memory of Etika. Keemstar tweeted a text message from Amofah's mother, who said that in lieu of a GoFundMe campaign to pay for funeral costs, she hoped people would donate to a mental health organization of their choice^[21] (shown below, left). He also organized a GoFundMe campaign benefitting mental health charity Active Minds,^[22] and tweeted the link to it^[23] (shown below, right).

Other campaigns launched by fans include a petition to have YouTube restore Etika's account, which had been deleted after he intentionally forced the site to delete it by uploading pornography. A Change.org^[24] petition started by Luke Finnegan gained over 367,000 signatures in a day. On a less serious note, a second petition was created to have Etika buried at the YouTube headquarters with a tombstone that read "No Bitch Niggas" and the song "Anime Pussy" by Josip On Deck played at his funeral.^[25] This was in accordance with what he once said on stream about what he'd like to happen to him after he dies (shown below). Change.org user SheepYT RBLX's petition to make this happen gained over 1.9 million signatures in a day.

Search Interest

External References