Ghanaian-American YouTube star, Daniel Desmond Amofah who is popularly known as Etika was confirmed missing by the NYPD yesterday.
Amofah, who was a former model, ran a YouTube channel named EWNetwork. His vlogs focused on Let’s Plays of video games, Nintendo news updates, trailer reactions, and other reaction videos. Other platforms he has also broadcast on are Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
Etika posted a video that appeared to resemble a suicide note on his YouTube channel yesterday. His viewers raised concerns about the video which was later taken down but ultimately led to his discord moderators calling the police. Nobody has seen him or heard from him since Wednesday, June 19.
The police department tweet requested that anyone with information about him should call @NYPDTips anonymously with info 800-577-TIPS.
Face2Face Africa has gathered this information about Etika:
1. He is of Ghanaian descent
Etika’s dad is a Ghanaian politician and lawyer. Owuraku Amofah hails from Kibi in the Eastern Region of Ghana. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1992 to 1996. He was also Deputy Minister of Tourism and Communication. He went on a self-imposed exile after he had a misunderstanding with the president of Ghana at the time, Jerry John Rawlings. He lived in America and became a Magistrate Judge. He returned to Ghana in 2013 to do politics again.
It is unclear the kind of relationship Etika had with his father but he seldom talked about him until his YouTube channel viewers forced it out of him.
Etika talks about his dad:
2. He has had two mental breakdowns before his latest YouTube suicide note
Etika has a history of mental health issues, and this is not the first time he’s posted something disturbing like this. In 2018, he cryptically wrote on Reddit, “It’s my turn to die,” which left his fans severely concerned. Hours later, he returned to the site and clarified, “Guys I’m fine, please stop worrying about me LOL. You know I like to be overdramatic. Carry on!!!”
He was admitted to a mental institution twice in the space of seven months. The first incidence was in October last year and the recent one was in April this year.
According to reports, his ex-girlfriend Alice was with him at the time of the second meltdown, and documented what was happening. At one point, Daniel 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.
Etika had other run-ins with the police. He was taken into custody while streaming live on Instagram in April this year. He was released several hours later. Just a month after, he got into another altercation with a police officer, and was taken to a mental hospital.
3. He was banned on YouTube and Twitch last year
Amofah was banned from Twitch last October after using a homophobic slur on his channel. In a clip, he read a conversation between him and another streamer asking about his sexual preference. “Yes n–, I am a f— and I suck dick all day,” Amofah said in the clip.
Twitch is very strict when it comes to using homophobic slurs on their platform. Hate speech breaks Twitch’s Terms of service and can result in very serious bans depending on the context. Most recently, Twitch banned streamer Trihex for a week for using the word while on stream.
Around the same period, Etika was also banned by YouTube for posting pornography on his channel. Posting pornography violated YouTube’s Community Guidelines and they gave him a permanent ban on the platform.
Although this is not the first time Etika has pulled this, people are worried about him. It is our hope that he is safe and alive wherever he is. Remember that anyone with information about him should call @NYPDTips anonymously with info 800-577-TIPS.
