# Based Stickman 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. ## 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 2017[1]. 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 stick[2]. 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 hero[1]. 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 coverage[1]. ## 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 circulation[1]. 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 hours[4]. A separate iBankCoin.com remix using Styx's 'Come Sail Away' circulated alongside it[3]. 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 day[3]. 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 7th[6]. ## How to Use 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' nickname[1]. Cropped stills and short 'Real American'-scored edits are the common conventions[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Based Stickman? Based Stickman is the nickname 4chan gave to Kyle Chapman, a California man filmed striking an Antifa counter-protester with a wooden stick at a March 2017 Berkeley pro-Trump rally[1]. ### Where did Based Stickman come from? The nickname first appeared in a /pol/ thread on 4chan on March 4th, 2017, the same day as the Berkeley clash[2]. ### What does Based Stickman mean? In right-wing internet slang the character stood in for a self-styled defender of the pro-Trump right, with Urban Dictionary defining him as 'the protector of all people and things right winged'[5]. ### How do you use Based Stickman? Users typically post the stick-swing clip or a black-and-white Chapman portrait in threads about Antifa or street protests, often paired with the 'Alt-Knight' nickname[3]. ### Is Based Stickman still popular? Interest peaked in March 2017 around the Berkeley fights and the WeSearchr fundraiser and has fallen off since as that specific news cycle wound down[6]. ## References 1. [https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-05/new-super-hero-right-arises-behold-stick-man]() 2. [https://archive.is/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/based-stickman]() 4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKN7XDs2E58]() 5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Based%20Stickman]() 6. [https://web.archive.org/web/2017/https://www.wesearchr.com/bounties/based-stick-man-legal-defense-fund]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/based-stickman Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library