Today I want to remember the life of Desmond Daniel Amofah, better known on the internet as the Youtube streamer Etika. I’ve made an animation of taking deep breaths in one of his favorite games, Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The reason I made this was because of how important Etika was to my life as a content creator, as well as many others that were fans of his works. 

While he was still with us, Etika had an open problem with his mental health, shown through his social media stories, posts and streams. While it wasn’t discussed as much as it needed to be, it was clear that he was not okay. As time went on, he was arrested on multiple accounts and displayed acts of concern on social media. He would later make an apology video for the things he has done to his fans and loved ones around him, with a week later having his body found in a river and labeled deceased as of June 19, 2019.

 Because people assumed the things he did were just for attention instead of a cry for help, his mental health went unchecked and it ended up costing his life. Usually in different forms of media, such as movies and TV shows, people with mental health issues are depicted as “criminally insane” chained up in insane asylums like animals, when in actuality they’re ordinary people with their own thoughts and feelings. Even Psychiatric Hospitals, places that are supposed to help people with severe mental health issues, are mainly in the genre of thriller or horror, like Batman: the Dark Knight or Unsane. With these depictions of people with mental health problems, many saw the things that Etika did as “attention seeking” or “the usual jokester antics of his.” In reality, he was an ordinary person who needed someone to talk to and help him go through his problems with him. While it is not for certain that he had no one to turn to, the constant mocking of his actions on the internet didn’t help his situation either.

As we get closer to the third year since his passing, Etika is a reminder to communicate to your loved ones or to people you trust about any problems you may have before it’s too late. May his soul rest in paradise, and we thank you for the laughs and good times you have given us, Desmond Amofah.