Ban Nicolas Sequeira

**Ban Nicolas Sequeira** ("**BNS**" for short) was a comicphobic hate group hosted on Reddit which operated from 2020 to 2021 during a one-year period. Known for their artistic intolerance, tendency to exaggerate, and relentless obsession with censorship, as well as their virulent hate towards those with autism, BNS inspired several other anti-Nicolas groups, such as the Rabckans and the "NicolasComicsRTrash" movement.

## Origins

Ban Nicolas Sequeira was formed shortly after Sequeira's initial success with r/collegebuddies and r/nicolassequeiramemes, which were overtaken by trolls and spammed with low-effort memes. Other early contributors to BNS included jaded participants from the Mysterious Song Subreddit and people who felt Nic had wronged them.

While earlier anti-Nicolas groups had been formed (such as a Spongebob roleplay group around August 2019) BNS was able to accumulate a large following virtually overnight by banning Sequeira repeatedly and preventing him from telling his side of the story, as well as convincing multiple Reddit users that Nic had wronged them and that censorship was the best solution. At its peak, BNS had over 200 members and 30 members active at any one time. BNS was also able to circumvent the rules of reddit by claiming that they were not a harassment Sub as they technically never threatened violence against Sequeira.

## Claims

BNS is notable for its support of censorship and misunderstanding of civil liberties, as well as their use of the term "trolling" to describe any online behavior they don't condone. They are also known to have made many offensive comments and jokes about autism, such as when they equated autism and schizophrenia. Liker many hate groups, Ban Nicolas Sequeira refuses to accept that its own actions are what increases the toxicity of a given environment, instead placing the blame on the victim of their campaign. Other lies and demonstrably false statements from BNS include:

* Nicolas Sequeira has used 4 accounts simultaneously (Sequeira only used 1 account at a time)
* That the Nicolas Comics Subreddit, r/officialnicolascomics, required racial slurs to post (This claim was accompanied by clearly doctored screenshots)
* That Nicolas was delusional, or mentally retarded
* That banning and deplatforming people you don't like is the best way to solve disputes
* That Nic has admitted to being a troll (This claim was accompanied by a screenshot from Sequeira's music video, "I'm not Bo Burnham," which included a clearly sarcastic statement which flew over the heads of BNS)
* That if someone came to Sequeira's house and killed him, it would be Sequeira's fault and not the fault of the murderer (This sort of victim blaming is, again, common in most hate groups)
* That Nicolas could not be reasoned with (Nicolas can be reasoned with, but not if you tell him to give up on his comics career/draw in a completely different style than the one he uses)
* That Conqoor was Sequeira's sworn enemy (While Nic and Conqoor have had professional disputes in the past, Conqoor is actually a very competent musician and an excellent double agent who convinced BNS that he was against Nic)

BNS also operated a corresponding Discord server, which posted more severe content (However, security was tighter on the server and it is now presumed permanently deleted)

## Smartass Dan Incident

Sequeira created an account called u/smartassdanmemes and managed to infiltrate the BNS Subreddit by posting low-effort anti-Nic memes where he would refer to himself as "Smartass Dan" and belittle himself. This social experiment was designed to expose how little BNS thought of internal security so long as someone agreed with them and displayed an open hated towards Sequeira. After attaining a level of respect and reputation on r/bannicolassequeira, u/smartassdanmemes unleashed a vitriolic string of memes where he flipped BNS off, referred to them as "dumbasses" and "brainless lowlifes," and then posted a story entitled The Meat Butcher: Finale, before getting promptly banned by BNS.

While Nic hoped that the incident would result in what he termed a "Nicolas Comics Unification" where Nic haters and Nic fans could get together and bond over their universal obsession with Nic, even going so far as to post the music video for "Caravan Of Love" by The Housemartins on r/officialnicolascomics, BNS was unable to admit defeat, and without a healthy sense of humor they took Sequeira's light prank as a deep affront and doubled down on their smear campaign.

## Dissolution

Ban Nicolas Sequeira generally lost steam in Spring 2021, when Sequeira announced he would be leaving Reddit to focus more on his YouTube content and comics. Some revivals and continuations were announced but ultimately fell through due to a lack of conviction and principles on BNS's part. At the time of writing, the BNS subreddit has been completely dormant for 4 months.