A popular YouTube star from Brooklyn has gone missing — after posting a cryptic video claiming he was suicidal and apologizing for leaving behind “such a stained legacy.”
Desmond Amofah, who goes by the name Etika online, was last heard from by phone around 8 p.m. Wednesday, the NYPD said.
The 29-year-old, who’s garnered 131,000 followers on YouTube with his video game reviews, recently posted a nearly 8-minute video in which he repeatedly apologizes.
“I’m sorry for leaving such a stained legacy,” he said in the video, which has been deleted but was reposted by others. “I hope that my story maybe helps to make YouTube a better place in the future where people know boundaries and limits and how far things should go.”
“You know I wasn’t suicidal before — I really wasn’t. But one thing I didn’t realize was that the walls were closing around me so fast. I really had no intention of killing myself but I’d always push it too far,” he added. “I guess I am mentally ill.”
In the troubling video, Amofah seems to suggest that he’s tired with keeping up appearances online.
“Let my story be one that advises caution on too much of the social media s–t, man,” he said. “It will f–k you up and give you an image of what you want your life to be and it can get blown completely out of proportion, dog. Unfortunately, it consumed me.”
Amofah has posted about killing himself before on Twitter, where he has 313,000 followers.
“Savonarola! I’m going to kill myself! You lot certainly have already. Shame on you all, silly humans,” he tweeted on April 16.
Two weeks later, on April 29, police received an anonymous 911 call for an emotionally disturbed person at Amofah’s home in downtown Brooklyn. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital for evaluation.
His Twitter and Instagram pages, which has 237,000 followers, were flooded with comments from concerned fans on Friday.
“Etika just take a long break for social media, people do care about u, pls just focus on yourself,” one person wrote.
One eagle-eyed fan traced Amofah’s whereabouts in his most recent video to Lower Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge.
Amofah is described as 6 feet tall, about 160 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt.
The NYPD is asking anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or submit tips online at nypdcrimestoppers.com or on Twitter @NYPDTips.