Fans of Desmond Amofah, the popular video game YouTuber known as Etika whose body was found in New York on Monday, have started a petition in hopes of having his primary account restored.
The account had more than 130,000 subscribers when it was deactivated in October, after pornography was reportedly uploaded.
The petition had 370,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
Amofah uploaded a video to a secondary account last week in which he appeared to express suicidal thoughts. The video was taken down for violating YouTube’s community guidelines.
He was last heard from on June 19, and the New York Police Department declared it a missing persons case a day later. On Sunday night, the 29-year-old YouTuber’s phone and backpack were discovered on the Manhattan Bridge, according to police sources.
His body was recovered near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan on Monday.
“Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah was a legendary YouTube streamer / entertainer, he pioneered YouTube Gaming and put the platform on the map with his insanely entertaining streams and loyal fan base,” wrote Luke Finnegan, the fan who started the petition.
“He was loyal to YouTube Gaming from the beginning. We the YouTube community and the Joycon Boyz, demand that his YouTube channel be reinstated so his legacy can be archived. Years of memories are gone due to his misconduct of a few uploads, and we think someone who has done so much for the YouTube platform should be allowed to have his greatest moments archived on YouTube forever.
“Please consider, think about how much he has done for you YouTube, think about all the years of his life he poured into his channel, and restore those memories.”
