YouTuber Etika Found Dead at 29 After Posting Final Video – Rolling Stone
On Tuesday, Daniel Desmond Amofah, a gaming YouTuber who went by Etika, was found dead in New York’s East River, according to the NYPD. He was 29 years old.
A hugely popular streamer known for his love of Nintendo, Amofah went missing last week, shortly after posting a YouTube video discussing his suicidal thoughts. The video, titled “I’m Sorry,” was removed by YouTube shortly thereafter for violating its terms of service. (It has since been re-uploaded to the platform by other people, though it is still unavailable on Amofah’s channel.) On Tuesday, his belongings were found near the Manhattan Bridge, and his body was later recovered from Manhattan’s East River. Authorities are classifying Amofah’s death as a suicide by drowning, according to the New York Post.
Amofah had long been vocal about his mental health struggles, and his behavior had grown increasingly erratic in recent months. Last October, his channel was deleted from YouTube after he uploaded pornography, a violation of the platform’s guidelines. Shortly afterwards, he posted a message on Reddit: “And now, it’s my turn to die. I love you all. Keep fighting for me, ok? I’ll miss yall,” he wrote. After the post prompted widespread concern, he issued an apology: “I’m sorry for worrying all of you, I’m sorry for making you all fear that I was suicidal.” He was subsequently also banned from Twitch for using a homophobic slur.
In April, Amofah livestreamed a standoff on his Instagram with the NYPD, who had arrived at his door at his apartment in Brooklyn to perform a welfare check after he posted a series of rambling tweets. In one photo, he appeared to hold a gun, which he claimed to have just purchased in Long Island. He was taken to a hospital shortly thereafter, a representative for the NYPD told the gaming website Kotaku at the time.
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
Amofah’s passing has prompted some discussion of mental health issues in the gaming community, with many on Amofah’s subreddit sharing their own mental health struggles in response to his death. Additionally, as some of his fans have pointed out, in the months leading up to Amofah’s passing, several people suggested his erratic behavior as a ploy for attention. Following his October post, for instance, there was speculation that he had been hacked or that the message was a publicity stunt; there was similar skepticism on Twitter following the release of what would prove to be his last video.
While there is no reliable method of predicting or preventing suicide, Amofah’s behavior over the past few months contained all the warning signs, says April Foreman, PhD, a psychologist, suicide prevention expert, and board member at the American Association of Suicidology.
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“It was really clear he was escalating…he would talk about pushing people away, he would talk about going through episodes of dysregulation,” she says, using a term for a reduced ability to modulate one’s emotions, resulting in outbursts or unstable behavior. “These are all signs of very serious mental illness, and some people were noticing it, but some people were sort of applauding or watching it as entertainment. It was so heartbreaking knowing what the end of the story was.”
His death has also prompted more than 370,000 fans to sign a Change.org petition campaigning for YouTube to restore his original primary channel, which was deleted in October. “We the YouTube community and the Joycon Boyz [Amofah’s term for his fans] demand that his YouTube channel be reinstated so his legacy can be archived,” the petition states. “Years of memories are gone due to his misconduct of a few uploads, and we think someone who has done so much for the YouTube platform should be allowed to have his greatest moments archived on YouTube forever.
”
Foreman also expressed concern that many of Amofah’s fans and fellow streamers might not have sufficient resources to deal with their own mental health issues. “These are people who are often young and male,” Foreman says of Amofah’s fan base. “Remember, these are the folks who as they age, suicide deaths are a very serious public health issue for them.” (It is, in fact, among the leading causes of death for men, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.)
In a different aspect,
I can’t express how concerned I am for pro players / streamers / influencers’ mental health.
The entertainment world is as vicious as it is captivating, and just because you’re in an «enjoyable» industry doesn’t mean you can’t struggle as well.
— Chad Smeltz (@ChadSmeltz) June 25, 2019
While Foreman says that increased discussion of mental health issues within the community could be beneficial, many of the conversations she’s seen in the hours after his death “aren’t particularly well-informed” about mental health, she says.
She encouraged platforms like Twitch and YouTube to publicize a list of resources for content creators struggling with such issues, many of whom spend long hours streaming every day in isolation.
“Just as if you had a flu outbreak and you’d remind people to have vaccinations and wash their hands and all this common-sense health advice, I would want [streaming platforms] to do the same thing for Etika’s community,” she says.
Other prominent content creators such as YouTuber Daniel “Keemstar” Keem have campaigned for YouTube to reupload his final video to his channel. “It’s the mans final words. They should not be deleted!,” Keem wrote in a tweet.
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Such campaigns, while well-intentioned, are misguided, says Foreman.
I’m speechless, this is actually wild.
RIP Etika. I honestly feel that influencer mental health is something that we need to address more often.
This is tragic. https://t.co/g1ByRj05Lj
— hungrybox ➡️ CEO 2019 (@LiquidHbox) June 25, 2019
“In the brief period of time leading up to suicide or death, people are in an altered state. If Amofah had survived, as most who attempt suicide do, he would have recognized later that his views were distorted, that this was unwell thinking, that he was not doing well. He would not have said or thought some of the things that were happening in that apology video,” Foreman tells Rolling Stone.
Such final messages or “last words” can often put people within a community touched by suicide at increased risk: “I understand the meaning-making about this,” she advised his fans. “But make meaning [of his death] another way and try not to put others at risk.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also reach out to the Crisis Text Line, a free, 24/7 confidential text messaging service that provides support to people in crisis when they text 741741.
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Popular YouTuber Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah found dead
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Amofah was first reported missing nearly a week ago
By Julia Alexander
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Photo by Etika / YouTube
Desmond Amofah, a popular YouTube personality known as Etika who created Nintendo-centric videos, was found dead, the New York Police Department said today. The NYPD had been searching for Amofah since he went missing last week after posting a video discussing suicidal thoughts.
The NYPD first confirmed Amofah’s disappearance as a missing person’s case on June 20th, approximately 36 hours after Amofah uploaded an eight-minute video to his secondary YouTube channel, TR1Iceman, voicing suicidal thoughts.
The video was later removed by YouTube for violating the company’s community guidelines. It has since been reuploaded by other people. Police later discovered Amofah’s belongings on the side of the Manhattan Bridge on Saturday night, as reported by the New York Post.
If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help:
In the US:
Crisis Text Line: Text START to 741741 from anywhere in the USA, at any time, about any type of crisis
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call or text 988
[Note: As of July 16, 2022, anybody in the U.S. can simply dial 988 to be routed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The original number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), will remain available as well.]
The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
Outside the US:
The International Association for Suicide Prevention lists a number of suicide hotlines by country.
Click here to find them.
Befrienders Worldwide: https://www.befrienders.org/need-to-talk
Amofah, who amassed a massive following through his Nintendo-centric streams and videos on YouTube, has struggled publicly with mental health issues for a long period of time, but his behavior over the last 10 months concerned his fans and the overall YouTube community. Amofah uploaded pornography to his YouTube channel in October 2018, a clear violation of YouTube’s guidelines, commenting it was “time to die” upon his channel being deactivated.
In April, Amofah live-streamed a standoff with New York police, seemingly prompted by several erratic tweets, including one that included a picture of himself posing with a gun. New York police told Kotaku at the time that Amofah was “threatening suicide in the apartment” and had a history of mental health issues. He was later taken to a Brooklyn hospital. In May, Amofah assaulted a police officer and was admitted to a local hospital, according to fellow streamer and ex-girlfriend Alice Pika.
Members of the YouTube and Twitch communities tried to reach out to Amofah privately and publicly in the days since he went missing. Daniel “Keemstar” Keem tweeted at Amofah asking the YouTube creator to seek help.
“Listen man if you can see this right now please let the internet know you are alive,” Keem tweeted. “Yes some people will be mad but trust me way more people will be happy to know you are alive and safe somewhere.”
Over the last few days, Twitter became full of testimonials from fans talking about how Amofah’s channel helped them throughout the years and how important he was to the YouTube community. Pika shared videos of Amofah, and fans on Reddit posted their own favorite memories of the streamer. A tweet from the official YouTube Creators account on Tuesday sent condolences to “his loved ones and fans,” adding that the company mourns the loss of Amofah. A follow-up tweet listed a helpline that others coping with mental health struggles could use.
Other members of the community are asking YouTube to reinstate Amofah’s final video, suggesting the company allow the video to remain up alongside numbers for suicide helplines.
It’s unclear what will happen to Amofah’s secondary channel, but The Verge has reached out to YouTube for comment.
Update (June 25th, 2:25PM ET): Updated to include a tweet from YouTube’s Creators team.
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The State Duma declared violations of YouTube ethical standards | Society news | Izvestiya
The YouTube platform violates its own rules on ethical standards, says Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Security and Communications, member of the United Russia faction.
He stated this in an interview with Izvestia.
According to him, today video hosting is involved in an information war of unprecedented scale: the platform blocks the accounts of Russian media, public figures, journalists and violates its own rules on the platform’s ethical standards, which are focused on objectivity and neutrality.
“It is clear that the platform, like other American platforms, is under tremendous pressure from the American authorities, the American media, which are fueling a culture of cancellation against the Russian people. The platform also violated the Russian anti-censorship law when it began blocking without explanation, and, on the contrary, develops propaganda content focused on showing hatred towards the Russian people. I think the leadership of the platform also understands that they have become a propaganda tool, but they broke under tremendous pressure, ”Gorelkin expressed his opinion.
The deputy stressed that Roskomnadzor has a set of measures to counter YouTube, ranging from advertising bans to blocking.
“The regulator has legal grounds for taking measures,” he said.
According to State Duma Deputy, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Artem Kiryanov, today YouTube is one step away from blocking, and the platform itself will take this step.
At the same time, he added that Roskomnadzor has a “palette of options” for countermeasures against YouTube, such as fines, large, but not large enough to shake the financial position of the platform.
On March 14, Gorelkin said that YouTube could suffer the same fate as Instagram if it did not stop being a platform for waging an information war.
On the morning of March 14, Roskomnadzor officially entered the Instagram social network (owned by Meta) into the register of banned sites. The blocking of the service in Russia began on Sunday from the regions of the Far East and ended on Monday night Moscow time.
The blocking decisions were made after it became known that Meta allowed in some countries not to block users’ calls for violence against Russian citizens.
It follows from the Meta emails that such calls against Russians are allowed if the post refers to a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect Donbass. On March 11, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Meta under Art. 280, 205.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public calls for the implementation of extremist activities”; “Assistance to terrorist activities”).
On March 11, the leadership of the YouTube video hosting announced that it would immediately block the channels of Russian media that are funded by the state. Then it was reported that content about the special operation of the Russian Federation to protect the Donbass, which “violates the policy” of the video hosting, was being removed from the site. We are talking about attempts to «downplay» the significance of the documented «violent events». Video hosting also announced the suspension of all monetization methods in Russia.
The situation in the Donbass escalated significantly in mid-February due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
The authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics announced the evacuation of residents to the Russian Federation, and also turned to Moscow for help. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of the DPR and LPR and promised to support the republics. Russia launched an operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass on February 24. The Russian side emphasized that it does not hatch plans for the occupation of Ukraine, and strikes are carried out only on the military infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, see the Izvestia TV channel
Internet: Internet and mass media: Lenta.ru
YouTube video hosting continues to violate the requirements of Russian law
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Globallookpress.com
YouTube video hosting continues to systematically violate the requirements of the current Russian legislation, and over the past 2 weeks these violations have become more frequent.
In particular, the American company systematically censors the Russian media, and does not remove illegal and destructive content and false information from its platform, Roskomnadzor states.
The agency has requested Google to remove prohibited material from more than 101,000 pages in relation to YouTube video hosting. Roskomnadzor’s claims are based on the specific semantic orientation of the materials distributed on the service. However, to date, materials that call for participation in events aimed at splitting Russian society, propagandize the overthrow of the current government, calling for participation in such events of underage citizens, as well as a whole network of accounts of organizations recognized as extremist (FBK) have not been removed. The platform also contains materials with signs of propaganda of inferiority and belittling the dignity of the Russian people, with the promotion of the ideas of creating separate territories and their secession from the Russian Federation.
“YouTube is an American platform, the main office of the company is located in the USA, and it is clear that YouTube is under the enormous influence of the American authorities and the media, which have launched propaganda of a culture of cancellation against our people,” says a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on information policy, IT and communications Anton Gorelkin. — And, unfortunately, under this influence, YouTube «broke» and, in fact, acts as a propaganda department. Of course, YouTube owners understand this and I don’t think they like it, because they violate their own rules — both content moderation and their ethical standards, which have always been focused on neutrality and objectivity. They grossly violated all these principles by blocking the accounts of Russian public figures, bloggers, and Russian media accounts without explanation. All this falls under the law on combating Internet censorship on foreign platforms and, in fact, violates the rights and interests of our citizens.
All this is already obvious and understandable and clearly qualified within the framework of Russian legislation. Our regulator, Roskomnadzor, has various tools to influence violators. There are soft power tools, such as advertising bans, SERP labeling, and a number of others. There is also heavy artillery — slowdown or blocking. Here the decision is made by our regulator, and there are legal grounds for this decision.”
Commenting on the situation, Vadim Vinogradov, head of the working group on legislation in the field of Internet technologies and digitalization of the RF OP, emphasizes that, in accordance with Russian law, Roskomnadzor has a whole range of tools to hold IT giants accountable for repeated violations of the law.
“Last year, Roskomnadzor for the first time applied a strict enforcement measure to comply with Russian law, slowing down Twitter. This measure turned out to be effective: the social network quite quickly increased the speed of deleting materials on the platform, the expert recalls.
— Any foreign technology companies operating on the territory of the Russian Federation and making a profit from the Russian market must respect and observe the rights and interests of Russian users. At the same time, it is difficult to build a systematic and effective dialogue until the company opens its full-fledged representative office in Russia. From January 1, 2022, big tech is obliged to do this in accordance with the “landing” law. However, 2 months have already passed, and the corporation has only opened a personal account on the official website of Roskomnadzor.”
Roskomnadzor notes that YouTube deliberately ignores the requirements and continues to provide platforms for broadcasting the views of extremists from the Right Sector and the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, publishing fakes about COVID-19, materials about the methods of production and use of drugs and other illegal materials .
In total, the YouTube administration has not removed 2501 materials contained in the previously sent requirements of Roskomnadzor (in 2020-2021) so far.
