Bearded Hipster Cop
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About
Bearded Hipster Cop, not to be confused with the nearly identical moniker given to the New York Police Department Detective Rick Lee, is the nickname given to Peter Swinger, a Metropolitan Police Service officer and former militaryman who was photographed while on crowd control duty during a rally held by Britain's far-right, anti-Muslim group English Defense League (EDL) in east London on May 9th, 2015. In the following days, Swinger quickly became internet famous for his well groomed facial hair that is stereotypically associated with hipster aesthetics.
Origin
On May 9th, 2015, British photojournalist Guy Smallman attended a highly controversial parade led by the country's far-right, Islamophobic political group English Defense League (EDL) to cover the event, during which he took a photograph of a Metropolitan Police Service officer with strikingly well-groomed facial hair. Smallman subsequently uploaded the photograph online via his Twitter account[1] using the hashtag #HipsterCop. Within the first 48 hours, Smallman's photograph garnered more than 160 retweets and over 100 favorites.
Spread
That same day, a slew of other hipster and lumbersexual-related jokes surfaced on Twitter under the hashtag #hipstercop.[8] According to Topsy Analytics[11], the hashtag was mentioned more than 16,480 times over the course of the next 48 hours. By May 10th, London's bearded "Hipster Cop" had been picked up by several major news outlets in the U.K. and overseas, from The Independent[2], Daily Mail[3], London Evening Standard[4] and The Scotsman[5] to Mashable[6], BuzzFeed[7], Huffington Post[8] and MTV[10], among others.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – Guy Smallman's Tweet
[2] The Independent – 'Hipster Cop' actually just a policeman with a beard
[3] Daily Mail – Revealed: 'Hipster cop' is married 6ft 4in ex-soldier who loves motorbikes, only listens to Meat Loaf and claims he is definitely NOT a real Hipster
[4] London Evening Standard – 'Hipster' cop isn't a hipster, he's a biker – but sees the funny side of being made a meme
[5] The Scotsman – Hipster cop: New photos emerge of London riot cop
[6] Mashable – Hipster Cop brings justice to beard lovers everywhere
[7] BuzzFeed – A Bearded “Hipster Cop” From The Protests In London Has Become A Huge Meme
[8] Twitter – Search Results for #HipsterCop
[9] Huffington Post – Metropolitan Police Officer Becomes #HipsterCop Internet Star
[10] MTV – The #HipsterCop Is Here To Save The Day … And Score Some Sick Records
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Top Comments
Drakon
May 12, 2015 at 06:56AM EDT
RedDragon001
May 12, 2015 at 08:28AM EDT in reply to