Kyle Chapman (American activist)

Chapman came to prominence among the alt-right following the March 4, 2017 March 4 Trump rally in Berkeley, California, where he was recorded wearing homemade armor, hitting an anti-fascist counter-protester over the head with a stick.[9][8] Video and stills of the incident went viral, earning Chapman the nicknames "Based Stickman" and the "Alt-Knight".[2] He was arrested at the rally on multiple assault charges.[2] A campaign on the alt-tech crowdfunding platform WeSearchr raised more than $86,000 to pay his bail and legal fees.[3] Following the incident, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes invited Chapman to become involved with his organization. Later in 2017, McInnes said he had considered making Chapman the president of the entire Proud Boys organization, but that "it makes more sense that he runs the Alt-Knights".[1]

In 2017, Chapman founded a paramilitary group called the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights.[1][6] Considered a close partner or subgroup of the Proud Boys, and sometimes described as the Proud Boys' "tactical defense arm", the FOAK has been described by The New York Times as a right-wing vigilante group.[1][6][10] The group was initially organized to provide protection to attendees of conservative speakers including Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulus. The group also began recruiting online to organize violent clashes against leftist opponents.[1] Following Chapman's criminal convictions, he faded from the spotlight as a leader among the Proud Boys, but for a while remained an active supporter in online postings.[8]

Participants in the 2017 Boston Free Speech Rally gather at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common

In 2017, Chapman also founded an organization called Resist Marxism in Boston, Massachusetts.[11] The group, whose stated mission was to "defend the Constitution against violent extremists and the left" and which claimed to be non-violent and not racist, was generally described as an alt-lite group.[12] A 2018 exposé by ThinkProgress found internal chats showing the group was "steeped in [the] same sort of racist, anti-Semitic rhetoric as groups on the far-right fringes".[12]

Chapman was scheduled to speak at the Boston Free Speech Coalition's Boston Free Speech Rally on August 19, 2017, but the event was ended early due to a 40,000-person counter-protest.[11][13] Resist Marxism organized an event they called "Rally for the Republic" on November 18, 2020.[14] Chapman spoke at the event, which was held despite being denied a permit by Boston officials.[15]

Attendees of the 2019 Boston Straight Pride Parade

In 2019, an organization called Super Happy Fun America was established in Boston, Massachusetts. The group was later described as a front for Resist Marxism.[12][16][17] The group organized the Boston Straight Pride Parade on August 31, 2019, which attracted several hundred participants and thousands of protesters.[18][19][20]

According to Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, Chapman left the Proud Boys in 2017 to "start his own thing". He reapplied to join the Proud Boys in October 2020, but was denied membership.[21] Despite not having been involved with the Proud Boys for several years, Chapman announced an attempted takeover of the organization on November 9, 2020.[8]

While gathering near the White House to watch Donald Trump's post-election night speech in the early hours of November 4, 2020, multiple Proud Boys including Tarrio were stabbed during an altercation.[22] In a video of the incident, Tarrio is shown retreating from the fight after being slashed in the abdomen.[6] On November 8, Chapman criticized Tarrio's display of "inaction and fear" in the video.[4]

On November 9, following Trump's defeat, Chapman said he would "reassume [his] post as President of the Proud Boys", though it is not evident that he has ever been president of the organization.[6] Chapman cited Tarrio's "failure... to conduct himself with honor and courage on the battlefield" as one of the reasons for the coup.[8] Chapman announced that the group, which had previously denied being a racist or white supremacist organization,[4][8] would take on an explicitly white supremacist direction,[8] and that he intended to refocus the organization on the issues of "white genocide" and the "failures of multiculturalism".[4] Chapman also directed racial slurs at Tarrio, who is black and Latino, and suggested he had been appointed the chairman of the group because of tokenism.[4][6][8] Chapman made what The Daily Dot has described as a "thinly-veiled vow to violently overthrow the government and replace it with a white supremacist fascist regime", referencing the neo-fascist Third Position ideology.[6] He also announced that he would change the logo and rename the group to the "Proud Goys", a term used among the far-right to signal antisemitism.[4][6][8]

The attempted coup is not believed to have been successful.[8] Tarrio remains the chairman of the Proud Boys, and the Proud Goys name has not been adopted outside of Chapman's social media.[4][10][8] Tarrio has said he does not think Chapman's attempted takeover would succeed, and that he thought Chapman was drunk and joking when he made the posts. Chapman made a comment saying he had been joking, though he later deleted it and said that he was serious about taking over the group.[8]

The attempted takeover and its subsequent denial by Tarrio has been described by The Daily Dot as "infighting" and a "disintegration" of the group following Trump's defeat;[6] The Daily Beast has called the events a "meltdown".[8]