Smugglypuff

Confirmed 132,396

About

Smugglypuff is the nickname given to a University of Toronto student and activist who became a target of online ridicule after he was filmed on camera denying having witnessed the assault of Canadian conservative and libertarian vlogger Lauren Southern during a LGBT rights protest held on campus in mid-October 2016. The moniker, which is a portmanteau of the Pokémon character Jigglypuff and the word “smug,” is derived from Trigglypuff, a nickname given to a Hampshire College student and social justice activist in April 2016.

Origin

On September 17th, 2016, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan B. Peterson released a video on political correctness, in which he expresses concerns about new "hate crime" criteria that would criminalize hate speech based on gender identity or expression in the proposed Bill C-16 to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (shown below). Additionally, Peterson stated he would not "recognize another's person's right to determine what pronouns I used to address them."

On October 11th, 2016, LGBT activists at the University held a protest against Peterson's statements. The following day, the Rebel Media YouTube channel uploaded footage of a student protester striking the microphone held by conservative host Lauren Southern before disappearing into the crowd. Immediately after the incident, a trans-man wearing a yellow beanie tells a nearby police officer that he "didn't see anything" while grinning. Within two weeks, the video gained over 335,000 views and 3,700 comments.

Spread

That day, the video was posted on the /pol/ (politically correct) board on 4chan,^[6] where one user posted a photoshopped picture of the Pokemon Jigglypuff with the yellow beanie student's face superimposed over the character (shown below).^[6]

Also on October 12th, the video reached the frontpage of several subreddits, including /r/PublicFreakout, ^[1]/r/KotakuInAction^[2] and /r/rage,^[3] where many commenters referred to the student in the yellow beanie as "Smugglypuff." On October 13th, the This Is YouTube channel uploaded footage of Southern being blocked by several students while chasing after the yellow beanie student for stealing her phone (shown below, left). The same day, YouTuber Morphing Reality uploaded a remix of the protest footage mixed with scenes from the "Safe Space" song in Season 19 Episode 5 of the animated television show South Park (shown below, right).

Also on October 13th, Rebel Media uploaded extended footage from the protest (shown below).

On October 16th, Redditor the1_action_bastard posted a series of illustrations of the student nicknamed "Smugglypuff" to the /r/4chan^[7] subreddit. On October 20th, Vice^[5] published an article reporting that trans students at the University were "being targeted by threats of violence online."

Arrest

On October 22nd, the news site The Blumpkin^[4] reported that the student had been arrested for obstruction of justice and assault. On October 23rd, YouTuber MundaneMatt uploaded a video discussing the student's arrest (shown below).