Desmond Daniel Amofah (May 12, 1990 – c. June 19, 2019), better known as Etikanote , was an American YouTuber and livestreamer known for his reactions to various Nintendo games and products.
A son of Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah
, Etika worked in several occupations before transitioning to YouTube, most notably as a model and rapper (going under the name Iceman Etika for the latter, although he was famously humiliated by his musical work in later years). He rose to prominence through his channel EWNetworknote , which was originally meant to be a collaborative effort between multiple users, although in the end, only he ended up using the channel.
Etika first grew popular during the rise of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, often discussing elements and new developments regarding the game. His channel consisted largely of stream material, namely playthroughs of recently released games (a Running Gag of them being his low probability of finishing games he started) and over-the-top reactions to trailers, Smash character reveals, and Nintendo Direct presentations, alongside additional edited videos. His fanbase, which is known for being very enthusiastic, is collectively referred to as the JOYCONBOYZ (and on rarer occasion, the JOYCONMEN).
In late 2018 and early-to-mid-2019, several periods of Etika exhibiting erratic online behavior took place, including the deliberate termination of both main channels he used during the time and a vast number of cryptic messages. Statements from an ex-girlfriend of his and mass speculation pointed towards the behavior being triggered by several (hypo)manic episodes in line with bipolar disorder. (A general rundown of the events can be found on his Trivia page.) This culminated in him disappearing on June 20, 2019. His body was found in the East River of NYC on June 24 and confirmed dead at the point of recovery the following day, with the cause of death being determined by the coroner's office on June 26 to be suicide by drowning after jumping from the Manhattan Bridge.
Following the news, an online outpouring of shock, grief and respect for Etika's memory ensued among friends, fans, media outlets and influential members of the YouTube community — as well as public discussion regarding how his signs of illness could've gone without meaningful intervention for so long. Among the numerous reasons brought up, many referred to problems with the mental health care system in America (as Etika was hospitalized but released shortly after several times) alongside fundamental problems with how viewers react and respond to online creators' mental health struggles (as some of his fans continuously took his instances of concerning behavior for jokes, or used them to ridicule him). What most everyone agrees on, however, is this: Etika was a personality unlike any other that was gone far too soon, and he will be missed.
Etika's only currently existing YouTube platform is the side channel TR1 Iceman, which was dedicated to more chilled-out, improvised streams. Uploads of his old videos and stream highlights can be found on the channel RoseKami, alongside several others run by fans.
His former Twitter and Instagram accounts can be found here and here, and his still-active subreddit is here.
JOYCONTROPEZ:
- Badass Creed: The JOYCONBOYZ have one that, while comical, is still taken very seriously:"No bitch n*ggas. No snitch n*ggas. No Twitch n*ggas. No fake Switch n*ggas."
- Berserk Button:
- Invoking any Old Shame was this for him; mentioning 12-inch Subway sandwiches,note Minecraft,note or his old rap career as Iceman Etika are some examples.
- Trying to mess with his channel's monetary flow. On one occasion, someone donated money during one of Etika's livestreams, only to try and take it back (Etika believing that the donor only wanted a shout-out for his channel and nothing else). Etika eventually went through PayPal to legally force the donor to honor the donation.
- Accusing him of just wanting money from his viewers.
- Big "NO!": When watching a Direct for ARMS, Etika already had decided that Min Min was the best character. Upon seeing Twintelle in the Direct (who seemed to have hit more checkmarks for him), he immediately let out one of these, followed by a Big "WHY?!" or two.
- Big "OMG!": In one of his most famous (and
memetic) reactions, he let out a slew of these when it was revealed that Super Smash Bros. was coming to the Switch. - Big "WHAT?!": His reaction to seeing "Super Smash Bros. X Final Fantasy VII" shortly before the reveal of Cloud Strife in Smash. Due to its being used as a $100 donation alert for an extended period of time on his streams, it gained some memetic legend.
- Black and Nerdy: Was a big fan of video games, memes, and anime. He was one of the first prominent black streamers.
- Broken Pedestal: He hoped to defy this with himself; though he was flattered by such comments, Etika warned viewers that maybe he isn't as cool or nice as he seems when he's not on camera, acknowledging that Internet personalities, celebrities, and other strangers have a tendency to be "fake", especially online. He warned his fans to avoid setting their expectations of him too high to avoid his true self being a disappointment.
- Catchphrase:
- "NANI?!"
- "What's going on, guys? Etika from the Etika World Network here."
- Caught with Your Pants Down:
- His autofill for "F" became "faptitans.com", which turned out to be a Cookie Clicker-esque type game with scantily-clad anime women fighting monsters in a fantasy world. Also, one of the other autofill options was a hentai site.
- He accidentally showed his Switch photo gallery, which was full of NSFW in-game photos of Mythra.
- Chekhov's Gunman: BobJones became a sponsor when Etika fights Sans for the first time. BobJones was later partly responsible for Etika watching a "questionable Minecraft video".
- Chewing the Scenery: He was well-known for his reactions to trailers, especially for Super Smash Bros.
- Taken to ridiculous levels with the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate section of the E3 2018 edition of Nintendo Direct, where he broke his shelf during his reaction to Snake's return to the series. When Ridley was revealed in the same Direct, Etika picked up a piece of the shelf he had broken and destroyed the rest of the shelf with it.
- Disappeared Dad: Downplayed. Etika's father had his hands full with his political work in Ghana, so his mother primarily raised Etika and his siblings. However, Etika said that his father was a good dad and a good role model whenever he was around.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: While Etika was reacting to another reaction video. In said video, AfroSenjuXL ripped his shirt in excitement upon seeing that Joker from Persona 5 would be DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Etika tried to do the same thing on the ZeRo shirt he was wearing, and easily ripped it open despite being perfectly calm. Etika even said "Oh my God, I'm so strong now!" after it happened, as if he wasn't expecting it to be that easy.
- Downer Ending: "I'm Sorry", in which Etika talks about his struggles with mental health and how he doesn't expect to live much longer. Sure enough, a few days after the video was posted, his body was found, with the coroners confirming his cause of death was suicide by drowning.
- Epic Fail: At the end of his first stream of the 2b2t server, after spending the whole play struggling to find a way out of spawn and to meet up with FitMC, he dies and Fit was less than five minutes away from reaching him. Cause of death? AFK when he thought he was safe.
- Everybody Has Standards:
- He was not happy when people asked for refunds after donating, as it feels rude/disingenuous and shows lack of frugality. In one case, Etika suspected that a donor that wanted a refund was only doing it to advertise their own channel, so Etika went through PayPal to legally force the donor to honor the donation.
- After watching a video of a Twitch streamer beating his pregnant wife in front of their kids while streaming, he said that joking about this sort of thing wouldn't be funny.
- He was appalled and infuriated about the swatting incident that got an unrelated man killed and that the person who called for the swatting deflected responsibility. It made him so mad that he stopped watching the dude's interview with Keemstar mid-video and ended the stream right then and there.
- While reacting to 6ix9ine's arrest (which involved gangs and unnecessary violence, and he was going to be charged at a minimum of 25 years or possibly get sentenced for life), he warned his viewers to stay out of gang business for exactly these kinds of reasons.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When explaining the situation of his apartment elevator being out of order for six months, he noted that he would only be staying for 12 more days before moving and mentioned coming across and sympathizing for a man who had a lot of stuff to move by himself and would have to do so up and down flights of stairs in 90-degree weather. He then eventually read a comment asking how he himself would move with no elevator, at which point he realized that he would be following in the other man's path.
- Genre Savvy: Two minutes into The Promised Neverland, he initially dismissed it as an anime aimed towards children due to the lighthearted moments among the kids at the beginning, but then immediately retracted that statement, suspecting that the light tone was to catch viewers off-guard with Surprisingly Creepy Moments at the end of the episode or at least soon, since that was how Goblin Slayer started.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Etika sometimes peppered his speech with Japanese, owing to his anime and video game fandom. When he meshed this with his usual hammy manner of speech, the dissonance heightened the comedy.
- Ham and Cheese: His live reaction videos tended to include screaming and exaggerated movements, including destroying things around him when his excitement got too intense.
- When Cloud was announced as DLC for Smash 4, Etika grabbed long strips of stuffing paper on the ground while throwing them around his room. He even lampshaded how loud he was being, saying, "I'm getting kicked out today!"
- While reacting to the E3 2018 Super Smash Bros. Direct, Etika ended up fiercely hitting one of his shelves so many times that it broke apart into pieces. When Ridley was announced at the end of the Direct, Etika broke what was left of the shelf with another part of the shelf.
- When Isabelle was announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he threw bottles of lotion to the ground, which smashed across his floor.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When he beat the Genocide run.
- Hypocritical Humor: One of the pillars of the JOYCONBOYZ creed was "no Twitch niggas". Guess where he started streaming after being kicked off YouTube?
- I Hate Past Me: A lot of his past endeavors fell under Old Shame for him, especially his time as a battle rapper named Iceman Etika.
- Jump Scare: Humorous variant.
- One of his former donation alert sound effects was a really loud soundbite of his initial reaction to Bayonetta being confirmed for Smash, and it popping up out of nowhere during his streams startled him on multiple occasions.
- Etika lampshaded this during a playthrough of Doki Doki Literature Club!. As things start to take a turn in the story, one of his donation sounds pops up, prompting Etika to remark how his donation sound effect is way too loud.
- Large Ham: Even in videos that weren't live reactions, he tended to be quite loud, quite vocal, and quite intense in defending what be believed in.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: He openly enjoyed sexualization of female characters in video games. He talked about receiving footjobs from Kamui/Corrin (calling her his "barefoot waifu"), and was caught accidentally revealing his Switch folder full of NSFW artwork. And then it stopped being so lovable when he starting spamming his Twitter and YouTube with porn during a mental breakdown.
- Mood Whiplash:
- The tone of his videos would rapidly shift from upload to upload. For example, these three videos released consecutively: "Nintendo Visits a Bed Ridden fan and Brings him Smash Ultimate!", "BOWSETTE IS TAKING OVER THE INTERNET. (Princess Peach + Bowser)", "Rest in peace to our brother, Chris Taylor, aka @SpookyWoobler".
- The ending of his famous chargeback rage video:"Thank you for tuning in. Just a small message. Take care of yourselves, have a good one, and SUCK MY DICK."
- N-Word Privileges: Discussed. Etika (who was African-American) has frequently dropped the N-word (Mainly the "Nigga" variant) in videos and made jokes about giving or revoking N-word permission cards from his viewers, even if they were not black.
- At one point, in November 2018, he was suspended by Twitter, and demonetized by YouTube and Twitch for using the N-word, leading to a Creator Breakdown.
- Rage Quit:
- After receiving a donator's message about how his mother had recently passed away, Etika (who was drunk) went on a fifteen minute-long tangent expressing condolences to the donator and talking to his viewers about appreciating their mothers. He didn't read the whole message, in which the donator followed up the news of his mother's passing with a joke about her sentiments on Subway footlongs (the Mood Whiplash made it seem like he was lying about his mother's passing). After missing a couple of follow-up donation messages from the chat telling him to read the rest of the message, Etika eventually realized this, and silently smashed his table, stood up and faced away from the camera in anger (as his own mother had also passed away in his youth) for several minutes before ending the stream.
- After feeling like his N-Word Privileges were being taken away, Etika got his own YouTube channel banned by uploading porn until YouTube flagged his channel as toxic.
- Reaction Video: He was very well-known for his live reactions to Nintendo game announcements, to the point that other live reactors on YouTube and Twitch wondered about his responses in particular and would go see archives of his reactions when their own livestreams were done.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The "eviscerations" he partakes in elevate this to an art form, and always result in the victim of said evisceration having their public image irreversibly ravaged. See this as an example.
- Running Gag: His habit of stalling during streams due to being easily sidetracked.
- Sanity Slippage: From when he got demonetized for saying the N-Word in 2018. It got increasingly worse in early 2019, and sometime after the Keemstar interview, it had evolved into sheer hopelessness.
- Say My Name: One of his most famous reactions involved him repeatedly shouting "Mewtwo!" when the Pokémon was announced to be returning to Smash as DLC for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
- Schmuck Bait: While playing in the 2b2t server, Etika was advised by the chat to find a Nether portal, but the chat only told him later that Nether portals closer to spawn tend to be traps. When Etika found his first Nether portal, the chat warned him that it was definitely a trap. Etika heeded their advice, but panicked and went in anyways when he saw a diamond-armored player approaching him. Needless to say, it turned out to be a trap (as in, the Nether portal in the Nether is blocked off, making the player unable to step out of the portal), but fortunately for him, some friendly players pushed him out and freed him soon after.
- Signing Off Catchphrase: Often signed out with, "I'll talk to you in the next one. Take care of yourself. And of course, as usual, please have yourself a damn good one."
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Subverted. Initially, he felt mixed about Mythra's Tamer and Chaster redesign in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Spirit. He later changed his mind and said that he preferred Mythra's updated design to her original one.
- Trademark Favorite Food: His was Twizzlers. After his death, fans memorialized him with packs of Twizzlers.
- Trash the Set: At his hammiest, he had an affinity for destroying any nearby shelves or items. The reveal of the roster in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate saw this at its most intense — as more fighters were revealed, Etika pounded on his shelf so much that the shelf eventually broke. When Ridley was revealed as the first new fighter at the end of the presentation, Etika promptly smashed what was left of his shelf with a broken part of the same shelf.
- Weird Crossover: Upon learning of the 2b2t anarchy server on Minecraft, he looked up FitMC's channel, a well known 2b2t player, and sought out his help while trying out 2b2t for the first time. Considering Etika (un)seriously tried to distance himself from Minecraft out of embarrassment and tried to deny still liking it, this "crossover" between him and the 2b2t server and FitMC was unexpected.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: He was incredulous at the end of an Undertale Genocide Run when he saw the first attack from the SNK Boss, saying "that's not the fight!" over and over. It ended up taking Etika several hours to win.
