Based Stickman

About

Based Stickman, also known as Alt-Knight, is a nickname given to California resident Kyle Chapman who was arrested at a pro-Trump rally for hitting an Antifa protester over the head with a stick during a clash between Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators in early March 2017.

Origin

On March 4th, 2017, a pro-Trump rally held in Berkeley, California turned violent during a clash with anti-Trump Antifa demonstrators. In the clash, an elderly man was purportedly pepper sprayed by an Antifa protester (shown below).

Additionally, footage of Kyle Chapman hitting an Antifa protester over the head with a stick began circulating online (shown below). That day, a thread about the footage was posted to 4chan’s /pol/ board, in which Chapman was nicknamed “Based Stickman.”^[6] According to reports, Chapman was arrested at the demonstration and charged with several felonies.

Spread

On March 5th, 2017, the financial news blog ZeroHedge^[2] published an article titled “A New Super Hero on the Right Arises: Behold the ‘Stick Man’.” That day, YouTuber Decline ToState uploaded footage of Stickman with the 1980s rock song “Real American” by Rick Derringer playing in the background (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 89,000 views and 840 comments. Meanwhile, YouTuber iBankCoin.com posted a remix of the Stickman video set to the tune of the 1977 classic rock song “Come Sail Away” by Styx (shown below, right).

On March 6th, 2017, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Yodaman1219 submitted an entry for “Based Stickman,” defining him as “the protector of all people and things right winged.” That day, Redditor X075 submitted a black-and-white photo of Chapman captioned with a quote about hitting “antifa, communist skulls” with sticks to /r/The_Donald (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 4,000 votes (96% upvoted) and 100 comments.

Meanwhile, a crowd funding campaign was launched on WeSearchr^[5] for Chapman’s legal defense fund, which gathered upwards of $63,700 in contributions within 24 hours. That day, the WeSearchr^[5] page announced that Chapman had been released from jail after the crowdfunding site paid his $5,000 bail. Meanwhile, Chapman released a video announcing he had been released.^[9] On March 7th, two posts asking about Chapman were submitted to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[3][4].

Search Interest

External References