A brief hallway confrontation at an Illinois high school turned into a meme after the video went viral, though not for the reasons the teenage “content creator” intended.
What happened at Lake Zurich High School
On Thursday, Danny Spud posted a 47-second video filmed in his Ray-Ban Meta Smart glasses. In the clip, he walks through the front entrance of Lake Zurich High School with a sign that says “I love ice.” Meanwhile, other students participated in the school’s organized anti-ICE walkout.
“Today, students at my high school in Chicago demonstrated against ICE,” Spud wrote in the caption of his post. As he walked down the hallway, he said loudly, “We support ICE and law enforcement. I support ICE.”
One passing student responded in disbelief, “That’s crazy, bro.” Spud pushed back, replying, “I don’t know what’s so crazy about that.” After a while, another student in a gray hoodie confronted him directly. “Yeah. I’m going to punch you in the face,” the student said.
“Are you going to punch me?” Spud asked. When the student replied, “Yes,” Spud replied, “Then you’ll be in trouble for that.” The student replied simply, “Okay,” and then punched him as he had warned.
A security guard standing nearby quickly stepped inside. As staff separated the students, Spud continued to speak to the camera. “I stand by my beliefs,” he said. “I’m going to stand here peacefully and stand up for what I believe. I stand up for ICE and law enforcement.”
Another student yelled back, “You can go on your own in peace!” In response to what many online described as weak protests, Spud responded, “It’s against the school code. Swearing in school is not allowed.” After all, the gray hoodie kid had just punched him. A little swearing is nothing compared to a physical fight.
How the Danny Spud Punch Became a Meme
Reposts of the video spread with varying opinions, but it was the people who shared the video that turned Brown Hoodie Boy into a meme.
On Reddit, u/Chare1155 joked, “If I had seen this baller move when I was in high school, I 100% would have asked him to dance lol.”
However, others criticized both sides. u/hypersnaildeluxe wrote that the meta glasses signaled bad faith, with Spud “totally fishing for staff to yell at him so he could pull the right wing grifter card and say waahah I’m being harassed by a school administrator.”
This is typical trolling behavior from Danny Spud, whose whole shtick is sharing “prank” videos of him harassing strangers.
![The tweet reads, "'You'll get in trouble for that' 'Okay'[punch]Legitimately one pf the best responses of all time"](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/6Lbs76HcVxyEN.WSLpiVRg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTcwMztjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/daily_dot_articles_819/fae0c81e531f5820feaa21ff0a530387 "Pro-ICE trolls get punched at school. The kid who did it is now a meme legend 2")
Similarly, u/LimonNerd argued, “I’m all about free speech but the sign kid gives me Charlie Kirk vibes. It’s obvious the kid was filming to capture reactions for good viral content.”
u/Professional_Big_731 pointed out, “‘You Can Go Peacefully By Yourself’ Great Comeback 5 stars.”
As the discourse unfolds, a single freeze-frame closes. The image shows the student mid-swing, leaning back with an intense expression.
People compared the pose to Zoolander modeling and Pepe the Frog. @FranziaMom called it a “cinematic masterpiece,” while @DeepDishEnjoyer simply wrote, “Life imitates art.”
Spud took to X.com to complain about being banned from Instagram, writing, “After thousands of death threats and people cheering me on punching me for holding a sign supporting ICE, I’ve been banned from @Instagram. Another attempt to silence me.”
A community note below the post fact-checks his claim, reading: “Danny was suspended after sharing videos in which he pulled fire alarms at public businesses, an act that violated Instagram’s Community Guidelines.”
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