About

Gopnik refers to a Russian and Slavic subculture and nationality stereotype about lower-class men, who typically wear Adidas tracksuits, enjoy hardbass music and pose for pictures in the so-called "Slav Squat" or "Gopnik Squat" position with a bottle of vodka, or other hard liquor, in hand. Gopnik memes surfaced en masse on Reddit, 4chan and Twitter / X in the 2010s, spreading into the 2020s. A common catchphrase associated with Gopniks is the Russian slang, "Cyka blyat," loosely meaning, "Fucking bitch," in English. In September 2025, Gopniks became attributed to Groypers after a photo of Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter in the Charlie Kirk Assassination, appeared in a viral image wearing a Gopnik Halloween costume. The connection between Gorypers and Gopniks was largely speculative, however, and Robinson's political affiliations had not yet been publicized.

History

It's been said by outlets like Russia Beyond^[1] that the Gopnik archetype developed after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, because Adidas and other American brands were barred from the USSR, and men often wore the tracksuits as a form of rebellion. The association made them popular among the criminal underworld and general hooligans.

Slav Squat / Gopnik Squat

The main basis for the Gopnik stereotype as an internet meme surfaced on November 29th, 2012, when the /r/slavs_squatting^[2] subreddit was founded, where Redditors shared images of Slavic men squatting in Adidas tracksuits. Outlets like Russia Beyond^[1] have linked the squat to a way men rest in prison, by avoiding the cold ground on their rears.

On January 10th, 2013, the earliest reference to the Slav Squat on 4chan surfaced, shared to the /int/ ^[3] board on that day.

The meme spread en masse in 2016 and 2017. Notably, YouTuber^[4] Life of Boris shared a video called "How to squat like Slav" on May 2nd, 2016, which amassed over 11 million views in nine years.

On July 12th, 2016, Redditor Stannisthebest posted an illustration of Pepe the Frog squatting to the /r/slavs_squatting^[5] subreddit, gaining over 11,000 upvotes in nine years.

Alleged Groyper Links / Tyler Robinson

In September 2025, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was taken into custody as the primary suspect in the fatal shooting of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk. ^[6] Many internet users quickly began looking for signs online to point to Robinson's political affiliation.

For instance, discourse about Robinson being a Groyper surfaced en masse, somewhat related to a photo of him, shared on his mom's Facebook account, Amber Jones Robinson, wearing a Gopnik costume for Halloween in 2018.

For instance, on September 12th, 2025, X^[7] user @ArtCandee tweeted a screenshot of the Facebook post, paired with a cropped version of the abovementioned Pepe the Frog art, captioning them, "MAGA has a groyper problem and they can’t cope," gaining over 3,200 likes in three hours.

Others spread the claim, linking Gopniks and Groypers, but the claim received resistance from many, evident in a quote-tweet from X^[8] user @mapeslover69 on that same day, who wrote, "You know libtards are getting desperate when they are pulling random shit from 2018 when the guy had anti fascist and libtarded slogans on the bullet shell casings," gaining over 70 likes in a few hours.

Related Memes

Slav Cat / Slav Cheebs

Slav Cat refers to a viral image of a cat's head photoshopped onto an Adidas tracksuit, associated with the Gopnik stereotype. The image has been used in image macros and other memes since December 2018. In July 2020, a similar photoshop of Cheems was created. The photoshop, referred to as Slav Cheebs or Slav Cheems and, erroneously, as Slav Doge, gained significant popularity on Reddit in November that year.

Search Interest

External References