# American Chopper Argument American Chopper Argument is a five-panel image macro built from screenshots of Paul Teutul Sr. and his son Paul Teutul Jr. shouting at each other on Discovery Channel's reality show. The template started as a wholesome dialogue swap on Reddit in 2011, then hit peak Twitter virality in March and April 2018 as a format for staging mock debates over pop culture and politics. ## Overview American Chopper Argument is an image macro format built from five screenshots of a shouting match between father and son Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. on Discovery Channel's reality show American Chopper[1]. Users overlay their own text on each panel to stage a mock debate, following a rhythm of claim, rebuttal, escalation, chair-throwing, and final accusatory point[1]. The template's five-panel exchange lets creators voice both sides of an argument in one image, and the meme is used for topics ranging from Star Wars to gender politics to Garfield the cat[6]. The show stopped producing new episodes in 2010, so many people sharing the format never watched the original series[1]. The image stack runs tall rather than wide, and users complained the vertical layout displays awkwardly on smartphones[6]. In April 2018 a compressed side-by-side edit started circulating specifically to fit Twitter's crop preview[3]. ## How It Spread The wholesome-swap template sat mostly dormant until late March 2018 delivered its breakout moment on Twitter[1]. A March 26, 2018 tweet by @_ericcurtin kicked off the revival, and within about two weeks that post reached roughly 55,000 likes and 17,000 retweets[5]. USA Today ran an explainer within days and noted the resurgence started quietly on Twitter before spreading fast[4]. Photoshopped variants that swapped the Teutuls for characters from other franchises appeared on Twitter through late March and early April. Notable examples included an /r/MemeEconomy Garfield entry on March 27, a Prequel Memes crossover posted by FunnyJunk user lerky on March 31, a Frasier version by Twitter user @markpopham on April 4, and a Neon Genesis Evangelion recreation by @notebooklines on April 6[3]. Coverage piled up quickly. Mashable ran the first hot take on March 28, and Vice, CNET, Vox, Slate, and USA Today all published pieces between March 28 and April 10, 2018[7]. Several outlets pointed out the timing matched Discovery's American Chopper reboot, scheduled to air in May 2018, and openly asked whether the meme's return was a marketing push[2]. ## How to Use The format typically uses five stills in order: Paul Sr. speaking, Paul Jr. speaking back, Sr. yelling, Jr. throwing a chair, and Sr. red-faced and pointing[1]. Each panel gets a plain white text box overlaid, and the exchange usually follows a set structure of proposition, rebuttal, reaffirmation, second rebuttal, and final accusatory line[1]. Common convention is to pick a low-stakes or absurd debate topic, like whether Garfield contributes anything to society or whether Ewoks belong in Star Wars, and let both Teutuls take opposing sides[6]. Some creators skip the original stills entirely by photoshopping characters from other franchises into the exact same pose sequence, keeping the five-beat rhythm intact[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is American Chopper Argument? A five-panel image macro built from screenshots of Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. yelling at each other on Discovery Channel's reality show American Chopper[1]. ### Where did American Chopper Argument come from? The panels come from Season 6 Episode 1 of American Chopper, "NHL Bike B2 Bomber Bike," which aired April 9, 2009[3]. ### What does American Chopper Argument mean? The format stages a mock debate in five beats: proposition, rebuttal, escalation, chair-throw, and final accusatory point[1]. ### How do you use American Chopper Argument? Overlay text boxes on the five stills to script an argument between the two Teutuls over any topic, from Garfield to gender politics[6]. ### Is American Chopper Argument still popular? The template hit its peak in March and April 2018 and was covered that spring by Vice, Vox, CNET, Slate, USA Today, and Mashable[2]. ### When did the meme first appear? The scene aired in 2009 and Redditors first turned it into an exploitable comic in late 2011[4]. ### Why did the meme come back in March 2018? A March 26, 2018 tweet by @_ericcurtin kicked off the revival, and Vice noted the timing lined up with Discovery's American Chopper reboot planned for May 2018[2]. ### Who are the two people in the meme? Paul Teutul Sr. and his son Paul Teutul Jr., who ran Orange County Choppers, a custom motorcycle shop in upstate New York[5]. ### What is the argument in the original scene about? Paul Sr. confronts Paul Jr. about showing up 45 minutes late to work, and by the end of the episode Sr. fires him[7]. ### What famous crossover versions exist? Star Wars, Garfield, and Blink-182 versions all made the rounds during the March and April 2018 spread[5]. ### Why was the image reshaped for Twitter? The original stack of five panels is tall and awkward on mobile, so users rebuilt it side-by-side to fit Twitter's crop preview[6]. ## References 1. [https://www.vox.com/2018/4/10/17207588/american-chopper-meme]() 2. [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywxwdy/this-angry-american-chopper-meme-is-our-new-favorite-meme]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/american-chopper-argument]() 4. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/04/06/american-chopper-meme-featuring-paul-teutul-and-son-explained/492506002/]() 5. [https://www.cnet.com/news/american-chopper-argument-revs-twitter-with-resurgent-meme/]() 6. [https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/the-american-choppers-meme-was-a-good-internet-thing.html]() 7. [https://mashable.com/2018/03/28/american-chopper-meme-hot-take/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/american-chopper-argument Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library