Desmond 'Etika' Amofah found dead at 29
Nintendo-focused YouTuber had been missing since last week after video threatening self-harm
YouTuber Desmond 'Etika' Amofah has been found dead at 29, according to a tweet from the New York City Police Department.
Amofah had been missing since June 19 following his post of a video on his channel that appeared to threaten self-harm. The video has since been taken down.
Yesterday, his belongings were found on Manhattan Bridge, and today a body found in New York's East River was confirmed to be Amofah.
Amofah was a popular YouTuber who primarily focused on Nintendo games. In the past, Amofah had struggled with mental health issues, including posting on multiple social media outlets about suicide and self-harm. A recent incident in April saw the NYPD come to Amofah's Brooklyn home and detain him for a time when a concerned fan called 911 after seeing him post a series of worrying tweets, as Kotaku reported.
If you or someone you know struggles with thoughts of self-harm, hope and help is available. In the UK, you can contact the Samaritans by calling 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. A list of international numbers is available as well.
Social Media celebs grind themselves into the ground much to their detriment (in some cases like regular celebs). If Etika had a life coach, agent or PR manager they would have told him to step away from social media and seek help at first sign of mental deterioration and began a healing process for him. I used to have a friend who wanted to be a Youtuber, but bashed some celebs and I told him that he should be appreciate what they do because they have a heavy cross to bear. Not to sound mean, but I'm honestly not all surprised he burned out the way he did and the response/reaction he got pre-death. Someone of authority would have most likely intervened and he would be still with his family. He was with no one. He reached out to his fans and got the true celebrity treatment. He was memed, ridiculed and chastised. That made his decision easier.
Internet fame can put you through the grinder like regular fame. There is a reason why most celebs don't interact with their fans. It does help preserve their mental state. They may see a lot of comments and hate mail and they train themselves or are trained to not pay it any mind. Or they surround themselves with people to help block it out. Youtubers, Twitter personalities, Instagram models show that not everyone is cut out to be a public figure. Give yourselves a break. A click, like, retweet or an emoji is not worth mental deterioration. Venting your demons to your parents, spouses, siblings, mentors, teachers is INFINITELY better then venting to "followers" as there can be tangible results and healing and there is a sense of urgency rather than some randoms who can only say "I'm sorry to hear what you are going through". Don't view seeing help as you being crazy. View not getting the help you need is being crazy. Sorry for the long post true reader. If you made it this far, then you are a real champion of reading long-winded comments lol.