Heartbreaking Final Posts From Beloved Streamers
The following article contains references to mental health issues and suicide.
The relationship between fans and streamers is unlike anything else in the entertainment industry. Fans get to know their favorite streamers on a deeply personal level, and after years of watching someone on Twitch, these relationships can feel more like a friendship than anything else. That opens up streamers to some risks, as some bad actors may try to disrupt a streamer's personal life. On the flip-side, when a streamer passes away suddenly, the fans who truly cared about them are left completely devastated.
Over the years, there have been quite a few streamer deaths that shocked the wider community. We've lost streamers suddenly and unexpectedly, sometimes from long-running health issues. Whether or not we saw it coming, losing a beloved content creator has never been an easy thing to process. Streamers live so much of their lives online that we often feel like we know them, which in turn makes their final posts so terribly heartbreaking.
Etika
Desmond Amofah, a.k.a. Etika, was a hardcore Nintendo fan who shared his love of the company's games on his YouTube channel. He spent years uploading videos and slowly growing his channel, earning over 100,000 subscribers by 2019. Though Etika grew close with his fanbase, his rise to streaming fame wasn't straightforward or easy.
Fellow YouTubers who knew Etika often expressed their concern for his wellbeing, and everyone became even more concerned when Etika started posting about his distressed state online. Toward the end of 2018, Etika's behavior became especially concerning. His YouTube channel was taken down when he uploaded pornography to it, and in April 2019, Etika livestreamed the police coming to his home for a wellness check.
In mid June, Etika published a new YouTube video titled "I'm Sorry" (which the platform later removed), and fans became extremely worried for him. A week later, some of Etika's belongings were found by the East River in New York City. Sadly, police later confirmed that Etika had died by suicide. Fans and fellow streamers expressed their sadness over the loss, and some fans even started a petition to get YouTube to reinstate Etika's old channel. The platform didn't bring the channel back, but his output lives on in fans' memories and numerous re-uploads.
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Reckful
When it comes to "World of Warcraft" streamers, hardly anyone has become as beloved as Byron "Reckful" Bernstein. People regularly tuned in to watch Reckful forge his way across Azerothbecause they enjoyed Reckful's upbeat energy and interactions with fans. Viewers came to love his creative approach to gameplay and they were thrilled to support his very own game. Reckful was in the midst of developing "Everland," a community-focused MMO, when he died.
Reckful was quite open about his mental health journey, to the point where fans knew that he sometimes went through low periods. They became worried when he posted "ahh, i feel bad for anyone who has to deal with my insanity," on June 2, 2020. He followed the post up by writing, "please just know in these situations the insane person does not feel in control of their actions."
Just a few days later, fans learned that Reckful had died. His brother Gary explained, "My baby brother Byron ... is gone. RIP. He left in a similar way as my older brother Guy. I've no siblings left." Gary asked fans to share pictures and memories of Reckful, and a massive outpouring of love immediately rose from the streaming community. Streamer and psychiatrist Dr. K discussed the tragedy with his viewers in a lengthy livestream, offering advice and hope for those mourning Reckful. "Everland" never got finished, but it's still listed on Steam, and his mark on the streaming world is still very present.
Ohlana
Best known for her "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" skills and lengthy IRL streams, Ohlana built a following of over 100,000 viewers on her Twitch channel. She started streaming in 2016, and her channel grew to appeal to a wide variety of people. Some people tuned in to watch her sweet FPS skills, but others enjoyed her travel stories and spending time with her in more casual settings.
Because Ohlana's fans had gotten to know her pretty well over the years, many of them could tell something was up when she started posting somewhat dark and cryptic messages in July 2020. On July 5, Ohlana tweeted, "depressed [people] struggle to reach out in fear the ones closest to them will have cops show up and forcefully confine them against their will." She made an even more concerning post the next day: "it's not anybody's fault."
That same day, Ohlana posted a screenshot of a note titled "The Next Chapter" on Instagram. Ohlana thanked her fans in the post, but most could tell by the tone of the message that something was off. On July 7, fans learned that Ohlana had died by suicide. Her followers were devastated, and other streamers quickly came out alongside Ohlana's fans to show their love for her and tell stories about what she meant to them.
Puppers
Puppers was primarily a "Dead by Daylight" streamer whose sunny attitude offered a nice contrast to the horror games playing out on his Twitch channel. Puppers ended every one of his streams by telling his fans, "Stay comfy because if you're comfy, you're winning." Tragically, Puppers was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal degenerative nerve disease. Still, Puppers kept streaming, and some of his closest friends in the streamer community moved in with him to help with his care.
Puppers' friends took care of him for two years, and in that time the "Dead by Daylight" community pitched in, setting up the Light in the Fog Foundation and raised over $270,000 to help pay for his medical treatment. The love that built up in Puppers' community is something that you don't see online all that often, and he let his appreciation shine through every moment he was on camera.
Puppers had his final marathon stream on May 21, 2023. Within the week, he was back in the hospital, and sadly, he was unable to update fans on his own. Puppers' friend Sunshine made a final post for him, explaining, "Max @PuppersTV went into respiratory distress earlier tonight and they have him on tons of oxygen at the hospital." She told the community, "He doesn't want to be kept breathing by machines," and she promised to show him every message the community wanted to send. Puppers died on June 2, and the news was met with an outpouring of condolences from friends, fans, and even the official "Dead by Daylight" account. His followers continued to show support by raising more money to help pay for Puppers' funeral.
Technoblade
Technoblade truly dedicated his life to his YouTube community. He started posting videos when he was just 10 years old, and his audience grew slowly over the course of years. Technoblade's channel really took off when he started uploading "Minecraft" videos, making him one of the best-known and most-loved "Minecraft" streamers in the entire world. He kept posting new videos until just months before he died at age 23.
Technoblade's heartbreaking death was something that fans knew was coming for quite some time. Technoblade first told his fans in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with cancer. Even as the disease spread, Technoblade's joy and excitement about life never seemed to waver. His final YouTube video was titled "The Minecraft VR Experience," which he ended the video as cheerful as always. In the video's last moments, Technoblade tells viewers, "I'll see you guys next time." Fans still come back to that video, noting that it's both a happy memory and a bittersweet reminder of their favorite content creator. A year after Technoblade's death, one fan commented, "Honestly, the fact that those are the last words he ever said on his channel is somewhat comforting for some reason." The comments are filled with people remembering their favorite content creator, and new comments still get posted to this day.
After his death, Technoblade did have one last message for his fans, which his dad delivered in another video on the channel. Reading a letter from his son, Technoblade's father said, "If I had another hundred lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time, as those were the happiest years of my life."