Grand Theft Auto V roleplay Twitch streamer Vincent Cyr used his stream to raise over $16,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) following Desmond “Etika” Amofah’s suspected suicide yesterday.
At the beginning of his stream, Cyr told his chat that he originally did not feel like streaming because of how upset he was about Etika. Since he personally looks toward entertainment to help himself through difficult times, however, he felt he had a responsibility to possibly serve as that escape for his viewers.
To further motivate himself, Cyr said he would contribute all donations given to him during the stream to the AFSP.
“As somebody who has sat on the Suicide Hotline…it’s a very real thing, and I’m not even a generally depressed person,” Cyr said, revealing just how close to home the fundraiser was.
Over the course of Cyr’s eight-hour stream as anime-cyborg Uchiha Jones, his community donated in droves, bringing the total to at least $16,305.46 (contributed Twitch bits seemed to not be counted automatically on the tracking graphic). He also committed to personally adding to the final total out of his own funds.
“You guys did it,” Cyr said at the end of the stream. “We were gonna stop at $4K, $5K—it kept going, and you guys did it.”
If you or someone you know is exhibiting warning signs of suicide, seek help from a professional and call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 in the USor Samaritans in the UK at 116 123.
