For context, I’m 20 years old, finishing my sophomore year in the US, and originally from a different country. When I was 10, I met this amazing friend, a boy who was by far the funniest person I’d ever met. We’ve been friends all these years, but when I was 14, we became even closer, and he became my best friend. Our little group, me, him, and my two best friends, eventually became his best friends as well.

I remember when I first met him, he didn’t openly identify as gay, but as we grew closer, he came out to me and our classmates. The problem began when he started obsessively talking about spells and curses. I get that he loved that type of thing, but it became such a big part of his personality that it started to feel like it defined him. We were all Catholic at the time, going to a private Catholic school, and while he used to be Catholic when I met him, over time, he started changing his beliefs.

As time went on, he began calling himself a follower of what he called the "lord of darkness." While we didn’t agree with or understand his beliefs, we accepted him because he was still the same fun, lovable person.

But things took a darker turn. His humor, which used to be hilarious and lighthearted, started to become more cynical. He began laughing at the expense of others, especially people going through tough times, and it stopped being funny. On top of that, his life seemed to be falling apart. His family’s financial situation worsened, and we started to think it might be related to his choices. He would talk about doing spells to curse people or even making "cookies" as some kind of dark gesture. It was unsettling.

The real breaking point came when he became incredibly jealous. Whenever any of us started dating, he would act possessively, often flirting with our boyfriends in ways that made everyone uncomfortable. It got to the point where we couldn’t even share relationship updates without him making things awkward. When I moved to another country, we started drifting apart. We used to talk every day, but those conversations became full of negativity, jealousy, and anger. It felt like he was projecting all his frustrations onto us.

Eventually, he left our WhatsApp group, which we had been part of for over six years, and stopped responding to any of us. I tried reaching out a few times, but he never replied. Just yesterday, I sent him another message, and my best friend reminded me that, even though we’ve drifted apart, he’s the one who left the group and cut off contact with everyone.

So, AITA for cutting him off after all of this? Or is he the asshole for not understanding how his negativity, jealousy, and changing behavior affected us, and for not making any effort to repair our friendship?