Etika

"Take care of yourself and of course, as usual, please have yourself a damn good one."

- Etika's outro

Desmond Daniel Amofah (May 12, 1990 – June 22, 2019 [aged 29]), better known online as Etika, was a YouTuber who used to stream on YouTube and sometimes uploaded discussion videos about video games or other topics.

About
Desmond was an active rapper and model prior to his YouTube career. He started his first YouTube channel in 2012, where he would upload gaming-related live streams. He is best known for his reactions to Nintendo products and games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series. His fans are collectively known as the JoyCon Boyz (after the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con controllers) and more recently, the 9 Gang.

Desmond read donation messages in his streams and often had to turn them off.

After a string of mental breakdowns in late 2018 and early 2019, Desmond posted a (presumably scheduled) video that appeared to resemble a suicide note at midnight on June 20, 2019, and was reported missing by police shortly thereafter. Desmond's body was found on June 24, 2019, but wasn't confirmed to be him until June 25; when he was pronounced dead by the NYPD.

Personal Life
Desmond's father is Emmanuel Owuraku Amofah, who is a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. Owuraku is known for a 2000 incident in which he allegedly slammed the door on former Ghana President Jerry Rawlings' fingers, injuring him. Not much is known about Desmond's mother.

First Mental Breakdown and Termination
On October 25, 2018, Desmond's account was terminated for posting pornographic content and other Community Guidelines violations at around the same time. His Twitter and Facebook accounts were also inactive for unknown reasons. On October 26, 2018, it was reported by his ex-girlfriend Christine (Alice Pika) that he was sent to a mental hospital. On October 29, 2018, Desmond confirmed on his Twitch stream that he actually got his channel deleted on purpose due to the fact that he does not get ad revenue on the channel.

Second Mental Breakdown
On April 16, 2019, Desmond again began tweeting manically, including threats of suicide, similarly to his previous outburst 6 months prior. Once again, he posted a screenshot of his now-terminated YouTube channel, EtikaFRFX, which he did by his own hand by uploading porn until YouTube took it down.

Desmond's ex-girlfriend Alice was with him at the time and documented what was happening. At one point, Desmond asked her to leave because "he's expecting people to show up at his house and it might not be safe with me there.” Eventually, she contacted police, who restrained Etika and took him to a hospital.

Custody
On April 29, 2019, while streaming on his Instagram Live account, the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit appeared outside Desmond's apartment window responding to a call from someone out of state (presumed to be a concerned fan). Streaming the event live, Desmond repeatedly denied assistance from officers, requesting them to check his Instagram stream to verify he was "fine" and unarmed. Soon after, the SWAT team broke down his door and he was taken into police custody.

However, he was released several hours later. By the next day, Desmond uploaded a video to TR1IceMan, an alternate account, for the first time in 6 years.

Altercations with Police Officers
On May 1, Desmond got into an altercation with a police officer and was taken to a mental hospital. On May 14, 2019, Desmond returned to streaming and explained everything, saying that "everyone is a god" and saying that the police officer punched him when Desmond stuck the middle finger at him. Fans of Desmond were unsure of the situation and thought something was off.

Death
On June 19, 2019, Desmond posted a video titled "I'm sorry", in which it seemed like he was talking about his impending suicide. Its description was called "a suicide letter" by Keemstar on Twitter. He had not said anything furthermore or given any update. His Discord moderators did apparently call his local police. The video has since been taken down by YouTube and later, it was reuploaded by Etika's fans to other outlets. He was also confirmed missing by the NYPD, in a tweet made at 6:39 PM on June 19, 2019.

On June 22, 2019, the NYPD found several of Desmond's personal belongings, such as his wallet, cell phone, Nintendo Switch, laptop and clothes at the Manhattan Bridge.

On the evening of June 24, 2019, a civilian alerted the NYPD to an unidentified body in the waters of the East River near Pier 16 located a half-mile away from the Manhattan Bridge.

It was reported Desmond died of suicide by drowning after jumping from the Manhattan Bridge, after a long battle with bipolar disorder, as per the NYPD on June 25, 2019, one day after his body was recovered in the East River in New York City (at the time, it was unconfirmed if it was Desmond or another individual).

Aftermath
After Desmond's death, the YouTube Creators Twitter account responded to his death, stating that the YouTube community is mourning the fact that it lost Desmond. Big YouTube stars such as PewDiePie and KSI also responded to the tragedy, wishing for Etika to rest in peace. CoryxKenshin made a 7-minute video condoling Desmond and additionally talked about how YouTubers, especially every individual in the world, has to love each other to help each individual out, especially in hard times.

Quotes

 * “My d*ck!”
 * “What is going on guys. Etika from the Etika World Network here.” (intro)
 * “I’ll talk to you in the next one. Take care of yourself. And of course, as usual, please have yourself a damn good one.” (outro)
 * "If Wolf is not revealed at some point in the early January 2016, then I will literally make a sandwich out of my own ball sack, nuts included, and choke on that b*tch on camera, live. Quote me on that sh*t"
 * “Are you n*ggering me, right now?”
 * “Sounds like Xenoblade.”
 * "Mewtwo!”
 * "I'm not a news channel."
 * "Sponz hype!"
 * "No b*tch n*ggas, no snitch n*ggas, no Twitch n*ggas, and no fake ass Switch n*ggas!"
 * "JOYCON BOYZ!"
 * "No, no, that's not the fight. That is not the fight. No, that's not the fight. That is not the f-cking fight right there, no it is not."
 * "You are not f*cking serious, chat, you are not f*cking serious. That is not what the f*ck the fight is, no no no, you- you are n*ggering me."
 * "NOBODY SAW THIS COMING."
 * "FRESH OFF THE MOTHER F*CKIN' BLOCK"
 * "Backhand! Pimp style! N*gga action!"
 * "OH MAN"
 * "JOYCON MEN!"
 * "THERE'S A NUT BUTTON!"
 * "WHAT THE F*CK?!? HIS D*CK!!"
 * "THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED, ONLY FELT!"
 * "Hey guys, what's going on? It's me, the antichrist! I've come to purge the planet of all human life. I will be dropping nuclear missiles very, very soon on every single human being. Death means nothing! Why are you all so scared of death for? It means absolutely zero in the interim. Why do you think I made Trump president? We're about to get some fireworks real soon!"
 * "No, this is my world! You are playing in my game! This is all me. Stop thinking so small, Dreamy Creamy Keemy."
 * "Incognegro"
 * "9 GANG!"
 * "Let me see her feet!!"

Trivia

 * Desmond was of mixed ancestry, his father is from Ghana and he had also taken an AncestryDNA test, showing he has French ancestry, as well as many others.​​​​​​
 * Desmond once got lost in South Carolina. During that time, he claimed to have possibly seen a supernatural ghost whisper to him in the video where he announced he got lost. He later made a tweet confirming he was okay and feeling merry about things. He also deleted the two videos that were related to the ghost and denies this event ever occurred.
 * Desmond briefly changed his channel name to Young Ramsay Network in 2015 after cooking scallops and being inspired by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, whom he renamed his channel temporarily after. Etika also referred to himself as Young Ramsay during that time as well. Soon afterward, Ramsay himself started following Etika on Twitter.
 * Desmond had a girlfriend named Christine (also known as Alice Pika), who often appeared in some of his videos. However, on February 3, 2017, Etika and Christine announced that they broke up.
 * Desmond didn't keep promises.
 * Desmond used to be a model until he started his YouTube channel.
 * Desmond won $25 from a lawsuit against Sony.
 * In the early 2000s, Desmond played Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and reacted maniacally when it reappeared in the 2017 Sonic game, Sonic Mania, which he didn't seem to be very good at.
 * Desmond once used the Brooklyn Nets introduction video as his own intro, with him running around idiotically playing with his yo-yo and jumping on the ice. However, after the Nets declined, he abandoned the intro, due to his bandwagon status.
 * Desmond once choked on a sandwich whilst reacting to professional Smash Bros. player ZeRo's video "Peanuts".
 * Desmond was once formally known as "Iceman Etika", appearing on TV and participating in rap battles. He also produced tracks such as, "Written In Ice".
 * He once starred in a news report revealing the shocking truth that Subway Footlong Sandwiches are, in fact, not actually twelve inches.
 * Desmond had a cat named Bombay.
 * Desmond had four major waifus:
 * Red Robin; who appeared in Super Smash Bros. 4 as an alternate costume for the female Robin, a character who originated from Fire Emblem Awakening. People consider the costume for the female Robin to be based on Anna, a reoccurring character in the Fire Emblem series, as well as a reference to the restaurant of the same name.
 * Kamui (Corrin); the "Bare-Footed Waifu", who originated from Fire Emblem Fates. "Kamui" is the Japanese name for Corrin.
 * Pyra and Mythra; the Aegis blades of main protagonist Rex, and deuteragonists of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
 * Desmond had an old YouTube channel under the name of TR1Iceman in which he created in 2006 (although, his first video on the channel wasn't until 2007). He used this channel before he switched to his main channel. This channel was the origin of the Iceman Etika meme.
 * Desmond re-used the account in 2019 to make a few videos after his main channel's termination.
 * Desmond was once caught playing Minecraft on one of his streams, which led a lot of his fans to accuse him of loving the game and even spamming "Desmond Loves Minecraft" multiple times in his streams.
 * Due to his signature haircut, Desmond earned the nickname Guile-kun (ガイルくん) in Japan for his resemblance to the character Guile from Street Fighter.
 * Desmond was a dedicated viewer of DramaAlert and one of his dreams was to be on the show, which he did fulfill.