Etika

Desmond Daniel Amofah (May 12, 1990 – c. June 19, 2019), better known as Etika, was an American YouTuber and live streamer.

He became known online for his enthusiastic reactions to Super Smash Bros. character trailers and Nintendo Direct presentations, and for playing and reacting to various games.

The son of Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah, he resided in Brooklyn, New York.

Desmond Daniel Amofah was born on May 12, 1990, in Brooklyn, New York, to Owuraku Amofah, a Ghanaian politician and lawyer from Kibi, and Sabrina Amofah.

His father was based in Ghana in the 1990s, and Amofah had stated that he was distant from his father because of his political occupation.

Amofah stated in a tweet that the pseudonym "Etika" came from the 2003 video game Sonic Battle.

In the game, players could input a cheat code titled "EkiTa", and he decided to switch the T and the K to create his username as he "liked that result better".

He was inspired to grow a hi-top fade from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which featured the hairstyle in the game.

Starting his online career in 2007, Amofah created his main YouTube channel, "EWNetwork" (Etika World Network), in 2012.

His fanbase was dubbed the "JOYCONBOYZ" in reference to the Nintendo Switch controller, the Joy-Con.

He garnered popularity following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, primarily stemming from his videos discussing news related to the game.

His content consisted of playthroughs of various video games, alongside reaction videos and pre-recorded material.

Prior to his career as a gaming YouTuber, Amofah was active in modeling and rapping, having uploaded rap videos from 2007 to 2009 under the name "Iceman".

During that time, he released an independently-produced mixtape titled Written in Ice in 2007.

He graduated in 2008 and attended the SLJ reunion 10 years after graduation.

Amofah had an older brother, Randy Amofah, who died in 2010 from an asthma attack.

He also had a half-brother, Cardinal Valery, who ventured into online video-creation following his death.

Based in New York, Amofah resided in Brooklyn throughout his life.

Having previously used the YouTube account "TR1Iceman", Amofah created a new YouTube account under the username "EWNetwork" (Etika World Network) in 2012 to broadcast his gaming and reaction streams.

Amofah's channel garnered popularity in 2014, due to his reaction videos covering new information about the then-unreleased fighting game Super Smash Bros. 4. One of Amofah's most notable reactions of the game was his reaction to the Pokémon character Mewtwo being revealed as a DLC fighter; during the reaction, Amofah excitedly screams "Mewtwo!"

with other profanities several times.

Amofah started modeling in his early twenties and continued until 2015, stating that he stopped because he became less passionate about the occupation.

He owned an account on the modeling and social media website Model Mayhem, where he stated he was "quite tall" and that his last measurement of height was "six feet, six inches".

Between October 2018 and May 2019, Amofah demonstrated signs of mental distress, threatening to commit suicide on multiple occasions and being hospitalized several times.

During this period, Amofah uploaded pornography to the EWNetwork channel, resulting in its termination; he then posted statements on social media alluding to suicide.

After issuing an apology, Amofah created another channel, "EtikaFRFX", which was terminated for identical reasons.

He proceeded to display erratic behavior publicly, including posting cryptic messages online and streaming himself being detained by the police.

In a 2018 livestream, Amofah stated that he attended the public school Shell Bank Junior High School for one year.

He would be pulled out of the school by his mother due to his repeated fighting with other students.

He had also stated in a livestream that he attended Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ), a small law-themed college preparatory public high school.

Prior to the termination of the channel in 2018, he amassed more than 800,000 subscribers, reaching 100,000 subscribers in 2015.

Within months after creating a replacement YouTube channel, "EtikaFRFX", he had gained 300,000 subscribers, and reached over 130,000 subscribers on his "TR1Iceman" channel.

In total, Amofah accumulated over 1 million subscribers across his multiple YouTube channels.

Amofah's content was mainly Nintendo-focused.

His video output, initially centered around gaming news, evolved over time to a focus on Let's Play videos of Nintendo games alongside reaction videos of gaming announcements.

Amofah's reaction videos, mainly of Nintendo Direct presentations, were noted for their characteristic exaggerated and energetic style; they typically featured elements such as him falling out of his chair in elated shock and tossing objects around his room.

Amofah was reported missing on June 20, 2019, after an apologetic video was uploaded to his "TR1Iceman" channel.

After recovering his body from the East River near the Manhattan Bridge, officials confirmed Amofah's death on June 25, concluding that he committed suicide by drowning.

Amofah's death was met with expressions of shock and grief by fans and fellow YouTubers, with many observers commenting that the signs of Amofah's mental deterioration were either dismissed or ignored.

Numerous commemorations were held to honor Amofah's career as a prominent gaming personality, including fan-made memorials and murals.