Based Stickman — Kyle Chapman in gas mask and helmet swinging a wooden stick with an American flag shield during the Berkeley protest

Based Stickman

2017viral videodeclining

Published August 16, 2026

Based Stickman is the nickname 4chan gave to Kyle Chapman, a California man filmed hitting an Antifa counter-protester with a wooden stick at a March 4th, 2017 pro-Trump rally in Berkeley. The clip spread from /pol/ to right-wing blogs, YouTube remixes, and a $63,700 WeSearchr legal defense fund within 48 hours.

far right memes 4chan memes protest memes culture war memes celebrity nickname memes

Overview

Based Stickman is a nickname coined on 4chan's /pol/ board for Kyle Chapman, a Californian arrested after a violent clash between pro-Trump demonstrators and Antifa counter-protesters in Berkeley in early March 20171. The name attached to a specific piece of footage in which Chapman, dressed in a helmet, goggles, and improvised armor, strikes a black-clad Antifa protester over the head with a heavy wooden stick2. Right-wing posters also called him 'Alt-Knight'1.

The clip and the character stood in for a specific moment in the 2017 political street-brawl cycle, when /pol/ users treated the Berkeley fights like a running action serial and cast Chapman as an unlikely folk hero1. He was booked at the scene on felony charges tied to the fight, which pushed the story quickly out of imageboard threads and into news and blog coverage1.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /pol/ (nickname) / YouTube and right-wing blogs (viral spread)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2017

On March 4th, 2017, a pro-Trump rally in Berkeley, California erupted into a street fight with Antifa counter-protesters1. Video of Kyle Chapman hitting a masked protester on the head with a wooden stick spread within hours, and a /pol/ thread posted that same day nicknamed him 'Based Stickman'2. Chapman was arrested at the scene and initially charged with several felonies stemming from the brawl1.

How It Spread

On March 5th, 2017, ZeroHedge published 'A New Super Hero on the Right Arises: Behold the Stick Man,' pulling the character out of /pol/ and into wider right-wing blog circulation1. That same day, YouTuber Decline ToState uploaded a cut of the stick footage set to Rick Derringer's 1980s wrestling anthem 'Real American,' which pulled over 89,000 views inside 48 hours4. A separate iBankCoin.com remix using Styx's 'Come Sail Away' circulated alongside it3.

On March 6th, Urban Dictionary user Yodaman1219 filed an entry defining Based Stickman as 'the protector of all people and things right winged'5. A black-and-white Chapman portrait posted to r/The_Donald by user X075 pulled more than 4,000 upvotes and around 100 comments in a day3. A WeSearchr crowdfunding page raised over $63,700 for Chapman's legal defense within 24 hours and paid his $5,000 bail, and two /r/OutOfTheLoop threads asking who he was appeared on March 7th6.

How to Use This Meme

Based Stickman is used less as a template than as a shorthand. Posters typically drop the stick-swing frame or a black-and-white portrait of Chapman into threads about Antifa, street protests, or 2017 political violence, often paired with the 'Alt-Knight' nickname1. Cropped stills and short 'Real American'-scored edits are the common conventions4.

Frequently Asked Questions