About

On February 16th, 2010 Iyanna Washington, a college student from Oakland, CA (Youtube user iyannaw08) uploaded the video “AC TRANSIT BUS FIGHT I AM A MOTHERFUCKER” to Youtube; a video she recorded of a 50 year old black man and a 67 year old white man wearing a T-shirt that reads “I AM A MOTHERFUCKER” having a heated argument fueled by racial ignorance resulting in a physically violent confrontation.

Within the first 24 hours, the video amassed over one million views and spawned countless threads on 4chan’s /b/ where hundreds of various image macros have been created.

The older white man in the video has been identified as Thomas Bruso, AKA Tom Slick, AKA Vietnam Tom; infamous in Oakland for his reputation of belligerence. Prior to the discovery of his identity, Anonymous had already dubbed him Epic Beard Man.

After the black man’s nose is broken, he says “bring an ambulance” which has been misheard as both “bring M&M’s” and “bring Amber Lamps” due to a combination of his dialect and facial injury. Amber Lamps has also come to be used as a pseudonym for the girl sitting next to the black man in the video.

The Appeal

Other videos of conflicts and confrontations on public transportation have become viral hits in the past, such as Bus Uncle, and Soulja Girl. Because this one involves racism, it motivated a great amount of conversation in a short amount of time.

The common thread in most comments from people of various background is a similar enjoyment of watching a senior citizen deliver a such a powerful physical assault. His age makes him an unlikely candidate for such behavior or capability. Because he was not the first to elevate the conflict to a physical level, but retaliating, most comments express feelings of pride in the old man’s abilities.

There is also a certain level of humor to the fact that Epic Beard Man’s T-shirt advertises that he is “A MOTHERFUCKER.”

Additionally, the way the beaten and bleeding man pronounces “ambulance” (interpreted as either “Amber Lamps” or “M&M’s”) has resulted in a number of humorous derivative images, videos, and texts.

Transcript

When the video begins, it appears that some sort of verbal confrontation has already taken place.

Black man: …AC Transit
Bruso: Let’s get back to business. How much you charge me for a spit-shine?
Black man: what?
Bruso: How much you charge me for my Stacy Adams? I’m going to a funeral on Friday…You said you… [note: Stacy Adams are a brand of shoe.]
Black man: Did you get what I said just now?
Bruso: Yes
Black man: Why a brother gotta spit-shine your shoes?
Bruso: You offered!
Black man: I didn’t offer you shit.
Bruso: What’d you just say when you walked by me?
Black man: I said why, why a fuckin’ brother gotta spit-shine your shoes?
Bruso: You don’t have to!
Black man: Why a white man can’t spit-shine –
Bruso: [interrupting] – It could be a Chinaman! It don’t matter!
Black man: Look dude…
Bruso: I ain’t prejudice! What? You think I’m prejudice!

We interject here due to comments stating that Bruso is telling the truth about not being racist, and that given the context of the conversation, the black man may have offered to shine his shoes, as Mr. Bruso states. Because the video begins mid-conversation, it is not clear to the viewer how shoe-shining was brought up. This allows for the possibility that the black man may have instigated the conflict by offering to shine Mr. Bruso’s shoes (whether with genuine or sarcastic intent) but to assert this would be mere speculation.

The trope of the black shoe-shine boy is one with a deep history of placing African Americans in yet another role of servitude. An example of this can be found in the story of the 73-year-old Colorado Department of Transportation worker who, in 2009, emailed a doctored picture of President Obama shining Sarah Palin’s shoes, adding “it appears he has found his niche.” (reference: Huffington Post)

Furthermore, Bruso’s casual use of the word Chinaman denotes his ignorance of other races.

Black man: [pointing toward front of bus] Take your ass back up there and get the fuck out my face right now.
Bruso: Why you being so hostile, man?
Black man: ‘Cause. I’m pissed off.
Bruso: Well its better to be pissed off than pissed on.
Black man: Take your ass up there right now
Bruso: [standing to go to the front] You ain’t scarin’ this white boy. I’m 67 years old. You ain’t scarin’ me. You ain’t scarin’ me.
Black man: [now, also standing] I’m 50.
Bruso: You ain’t scared of me. You ain’t scarin’ me.
Black man: I’ll put my foot up your ass.
Bruso: No you won’t! No you won’t!

Another passenger makes remarks. Bruso moves to the front of the bus as the two exchange threats to whoop each other’s asses. Although Bruso has physically distanced himself, he continues the verbal conflict.

Bruso: You won’t do nothin’ to me! [then something unintelligible]
Black man: Say it again! [then something unintelligible as woman who was filming talks over him]
Iyanna Washington: Say it again! Say it again, Pinky!

The black man begins walking to the front of the bus.
Note: “Say it again Pinky” has been interpreted by some as a racial slur against white people, while others have claimed that it was said as a reference to the movie Next Friday although it’s not entirely clear how the movie quote fits into the context of the conversation.

Someone off camera whom many allege is Iyanna Washington: Beat his white ass! Whoop his ass!
Another passenger: Leave him alone!

The two men seem to be speaking to one another at the front of the bus, but cannot be heard over the noise from the rest of the passengers.

Iyanna Washington: It ain’t worth it, blood, it ain’t worth it.

The black man begins walking back to his seat as other passengers continue to comment.

Black man: I’d put my foot up your ass.
Bruso: I see tough guys like you and I slap the shit out of them.
Black man: What?!
Another passenger: Stop it!

The black man walks to the front again to continue the confrontation.

At 1:40, the black man lunges at Bruso, being the first to elevate the conflict to physical violence when he attempts to strike him in the chest, but the blow is mostly deflected by Bruso’s arm.

Bruso stands up and punches the black man in the face repeatedly. At least 9 punches can be seen, then the camera moves too much to get a clear view.
At 1:51 the black man can be seen shielding his face.

Bruso: Don’t fuck with me! He hit me! He fuckin’ hit me!

As can be seen earlier in the video, the black man attempted to either hit or shove him, but failed to connect.
Epic Beard Man exits the bus.

Bruso: He fuckin’ hit me first! He hit me in the face! [unintelligible] – self defense!

Bruso was not hit in the face. It appears as though he may have been struck in the arm or chest.

At 2:07, blood spatter is visible on the seats of the bus.
At 2:22 Iyanna picks up a bag left by the old man.

Iyanna: Open that shit! laughs

Various passengers comment on what they’ve witnessed.

Iyanna: We can press charges, blood. I got in on videotape. He’s leakin’.
Black man: That motherfucker hit me. No no no no no.
Another passenger: Did he break your teeth?
Black man: No. Bring an ambulance.

Because of the man’s bleeding, injured face, his pronunciation of the word “Ambulance” has been misheard by many as either “bring M&M’s” or “bring amber lamps.”

The black man then claims he will “kill that nigga.”

Then there are some more remarks from various passengers, and the scene ends with a shot of a bench reading “Keep our city clean & safe. Do your part.”

The 2nd Video

AC TRANSIT FIGHT (the clip you didn’t see) was also uploaded by iyannow08, showing Epic Beard Man continuing to have a tantrum on the street.

Additional Media

The day after the video was uploaded, CBS 5 caught up with Iyanna Washington and interviewed her. The video is available on CBS 5 site, and has been mirrored on Youtube (embedded below). In the interview, Iyanna alleges that both men may have been under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. She also reveals that eventually, Bruso voluntarily put his hands behind his back, surrendering to his arresting officers. Some have criticized CBS 5 for failing to mention how Iyanna encouraged the black man in the video to “beat his (Bruso’s) white ass.”

CBS 5: What do you think about that entire incident. In a word or a phrase?
Iyanna: Oakland. laughs
CBS 5: I mean, what word would you use to describe what happened?
Iyanna: Ridiculous. Just Ridiculous. Crazy.

Additional media coverage:

• San Francisco Chronicle

Spread

Most of the hype surrounding the Epic Beard Man phenomenon peaked on February 17th, and resulted in the creation of countless derivatives (shown further down) and the registration of a few domains.

A website at the domain iamamotherfucker.comdisplays Iyanna Washington’s videos, underneath a header that reads “find his bag and return it.”

Most of the comments on the site proclaim EBM (Epic Beard Man) to be a hero. These comments come from trolls who portray Epic Beard Man as a tragic hero, standing up for the rights for some supposed oppression of white people by black people. From a memetic standpoint, these trolls serve to further prolong the attention surrounding this meme by inviting more conflict from those who would take them seriously.

The website thomasbruso.com was also created, featuring the original video and links to the Epic Beard Man macro creator on memegenerator.net, the Thomas Bruso wiki, and the related article on Encyclopedia Dramatica.

Epicbeardman.com is a single-serving site that simply states “EPIC BEARD MAN sup /b/”

There are also an Epic Beard Man Facebook Fan Page and an Epic Beard Guy twitter account.

Additional online appearances:

• MetaFilter
• Deadspin
• Holy Taco! (Thank for the shout-out!)
• Urlesque has a great, concise explainer of the Epic Beard Man meme.
• Urlesque has published an update on Epic Beard Man after both parties (Thomas and Michael) had been interviewed, offering an analysis of the cultural implications of the meme.

Thomas Bruso’s Reputation

In a video uploaded on August 5th, 2009 Thomas Bruso is tased by police for being drunk and disorderly at an Oakland A’s baseball game. A a follow-up story published by CBS 5, confirms that the man in the video is, in fact, Thomas Bruso.

Troy Holden of Calibersf.com also mentions previous encounters he has had with Tom Bruso.

Back in 1996, I was working at the intersection of 2nd & Market. Each and every day the man pictured above would walk by my shop, wave a loaf of sourdough in my face, and scream obscenities about the San Francisco 49′ers.

Eventually, I moved on and just assumed this fellow found something better to do with his time. I guess not.

Operation: I AM A MOTHERFUCKER

Late on the night of February 16th, Anonymous began Operation: I AM A MOTHERFUCKER, a somewhat typical cooperative effort to find and disseminate the address, telephone number, and social networks of Iyanna Washington for the purpose of harassing her, berating her for her racist comments, and demanding that she return Epic Beard Man’s bag (which she is seen taking after Bruso exited the bus.)

Note: Know Your Meme simply serves to document this phenomenon as passive observers and not active participants. As such, we will not post Iyanna’s “dox” although they are widely available to those who engage in such behavior.

Iyanna’s Response

Operation: I AM A MOTHERFUCKER was successful in reaching Iyanna Washington, motivating her to create a response video, seen below.

It is worth noting how she carefully chooses to use the overly formal terms “Caucasian” and “African American” rather than the more common and fully acceptable terms black and white. This is further contrasted by her choice to refer to Mr. Bruso as “pinky” in her original video, and her choice to refer to the black man whom she claims to have no familiarity with as “blood” denoting race-based solidarity.

It should also be noted that many have claimed Iyanna’s exclamation of “Say it again, Pinky” was meant not as a racial remark on the color of Thomas Bruso’s skin, but simply as a reference to the movie Next Friday, however it is not entirely clear how this reference would fit the context.

In addition to her sudden change to using formal language, Ms. Washington also laments the state of violence in the world. This has been viewed by many as hypocrisy due to her previous support of physical violence evidenced in her original video, recorded under 48 hours prior.

Video Responses

Some have created videos sharing their views of the video. The thing they all have in common is that most enjoy watching Epic Beard Man’s retaliation against the black man.

AC TRANSIT BUS FIGHT I AM A MOTHERBLANK 67yr Old Elderly Man Beats Down On Black Man (Raw Footage)

Re: Epic Beard Man

Video Derivatives

Epic Beard Man – Mortal Kombat style

Epic Beard Man KOs Black Guy REMIX!

Play Him Off, Epic Beard Man

Epic Beard Man, AC TRANSIT BUS FIGHT (Hardcore Techno Remix)

Black guy wants M&M’s

EPIC BEARD MAN VS WANNA-BE (I AM A MOTHERF*CKER)

New Super Street Fighter 4 Character – Epic Beard Man!

I AM A MOTHERFUCKER: THE SONG dedicated to ‘Epic Beard Man’ Thomas Bruso

Epic Beard Man Street Fighter Remix

On February 20th, 2010, Newgrounds animator Johnny Utah created a reinterpretation of Epic Beard Man. The Flash animation has been mirrored on Youtube.

Amber Lamps

As has been previously mentioned, one of the ways the black man’s pronunciation of the word “ambulance” through his battered and bleeding face has been interpreted is “Amber Lamps.” Initially, this inspired many of the meme’s participants to create images involved amber-colored lights.

But by February 17th, a new trend emerged in which “Amber Lamps” was treated as the name given to the young woman wearing purple seated nearby. Her casual, unaffected facial expression during the ordeal has inspired a bit of modern mythology detailed throughout the image macros and contents of various forum posts. This activity has caused her to become something of a submeme of her own.

Excerpt from Dramatica:

She’s a pretty cool girl. She lives in the hood and doesn’t afraid of anything.

Possible Memeplex?

Between the Epic Beard Man materials, “Bring M&M’s” and Amber Lamps, Epic Beard man shows strong evidence of potentially transcending mere memedom, and becoming a memeplex: or a meme that spawns other memes. Whether or not the Amber Lamps trend continues will determine the decision of this suggested memeplex categorization.

Trends

As of February 19th, Google Insights is only returning search data up to February 17th.
On the 17th, searches for Epic Beard Man quickly overtook searches for AC Transit. Searches for Amber Lamps came in 3rd, followed by Thomas Bruso in 4th.
What’s most interesting to note here, is how strong the increase in searches for AC Transit increased due to the incident.

Over the last six years, searches for AC Transit had been gradually decreasing. It seems that the Epic Beard Man incident has gained more attention than the BART train derailment of December 09 or even the cop who is currently on trial for killing a man on the BART train in January of 09.

Epic Beard Man Speaks

San Francisco’s KRON-4 caught up with Epic Beard Man on February 19th to ask for his recount of what happened.

In the video, EBM claims that the man he fought was wanted for murder, would be going to prison for 10 years for armed robbery, assault and battery, and possession of a knife while on parole.
He also alleges that his money and ID were stolen out of his bag, although the bag itself was returned to him three hours following the incident.

As for EBM’s recount of how the incident started, filling in gaps prior to the video, he claims that he had been talking to his white friend Bob, asking to borrow money to get some shoes to wear to his mother’s funeral on Wednesday. In the original video, he states that the funeral is on Friday.

EBM then claims that he had been telling Bob that he would have “my boy” shine his shoes. He also says that he would have “my brother” shine his shoes. EMB claims that he was using these terms generally, not meaning to denote a person of any specific race.

I was gettin’ real scared when he showed me that knife."

Then he claims that he had been sucker-punched in the jaw-bone three times, which is entirely inaccurate. He also claims to have beat the man “so bad and so pretty” that he was “knocked out for 22 and half minutes.”

It is apparent that EBM’s recount is less than reliable, and is likely suffering from some sort of mental illness.

One thing rings true: “Senior citizens will surprise you!”

UPDATE: The other guy, Michael, speaks

As it is clear by the fact that Michael is not in prison, it is apparent that Thomas Bruso’s allegations that Michael is a murder and has been put in prison are false.

The Documentary

Inspired by all the public attention and discourse surrounding the enigmatic character of Thomas Bruso, RadicalNow created a short documentary about him; at times endearing, at times reaffirming his tendency to embellish.