CBC
Hell's Angel Cliff Workman alleges Hunter S. Thompson enriched himself off the club while reneging on promised beer and books, claiming the author invited his violent stomping by meddling in a member's domestic dispute.
AI-assisted summary of Hunter S. Thompson meets a Hell's Angel, 1967 | CBC — original source. Check the original for full context.
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Key ideas
- Hell's Angel Cliff Workman publicly denounced Hunter S. Thompson's bestselling book on the club as '60% cheap trash' during a 1967 CBC televised confrontation. (0:07)
- Workman claimed Thompson profited heavily off the club while reneging on a promised payment of two kegs of beer and a book copy for every Oakland chapter member. (1:58)
- Thompson countered that all financial and social obligations were wiped out when members of the club brutally assaulted him. (1:58)
- Workman defended the stomping of Thompson, stating the author violated personal boundaries by intervening when an Angel named Junkie George was beating his wife and dog. (3:08)
Detailed notes
## Background Published by CBC on YouTube on July 7, 2010, this archival clip from a 1967 broadcast captures author Hunter S. Thompson coming face-to-face with a member of the Hell's Angels. According to the description, Thompson achieved international acclaim for his book "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" after spending a year riding with them, prompting a member to confront him and dismiss 60% of the account as "cheap trash."
## TL;DR In a televised 1967 encounter on CBC, author Hunter S. Thompson confronts Hell's Angels member Cliff Workman over Thompson's bestselling chronicle of the motorcycle club. Workman denounces the book as sensationalized trash and accuses Thompson of reneging on a pledge to deliver two kegs of beer and book copies to the Oakland chapter. Thompson counters that any social debt was cancelled after several club members violently stomped him. The debate intensifies over the specific altercation involving member Junkie George, with Workman defending the outlaw code of violence before the host cuts off the segment before Thompson can finish his account.
## Atmosphere & style The broadcast crackles with tense, unvarnished friction between Thompson's acerbic, intellectual wit and Workman's blunt, unapologetic outlaw mindset. What begins as a measured discussion about public perception rapidly turns into a chilling culture clash as Workman casually justifies domestic violence and group beatings. The viewing experience feels electric and claustrophobic, culminating in frustrated protests when the studio clock abruptly cuts the confrontation short.
## Bulletin - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Hell's Angel Cliff Workman publicly denounced Hunter S. Thompson's bestselling book on the club as '60% cheap trash' during a 1967 CBC televised confrontation. - [01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) Workman claimed Thompson profited heavily off the club while reneging on a promised payment of two kegs of beer and a book copy for every Oakland chapter member. - [01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) Thompson countered that all financial and social obligations were wiped out when members of the club brutally assaulted him. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Workman defended the stomping of Thompson, stating the author violated personal boundaries by intervening when an Angel named Junkie George was beating his wife and dog.
## Key takeaways - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Hunter S. Thompson spent a year living and riding alongside the Hell's Angels to gather material for his critically acclaimed book. - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Cliff Workman publicly dismissed the book's accuracy, claiming to the studio audience that it was 60% cheap trash. - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Workman rejected the media's outlaw stereotype, describing himself as an ordinary worker who owns a boat, trailer, and dog kennel. - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Thompson accused the Hell's Angels of deliberately fielding Workman as a refined, educated emissary with bourgeois aspirations. - [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Workman asserted that Hell's Angels do not alter their behavior for public perception and maintain total indifference to outside opinions. - [01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) The Oakland chapter expected minimal compensation from Thompson: two kegs of party beer and one book copy per member. - [01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) Thompson maintained that hospitality went both ways, noting Angels lived in his home and drank his beer for months. - [01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) Thompson argued that receiving a severe beating from the Angels completely dissolved any debt or obligations he had to the club. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Workman claimed Thompson breached motorcycle club etiquette by inserting himself into Angel Junkie George's domestic dispute. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Workman maintained that a man beating his wife and dealing with a biting dog is strictly a private matter among the three of them. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) According to Workman, Thompson insulted George by declaring that only a punk beats his wife and dog, prompting four Angels to stomp him. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Workman criticized Thompson for driving off after the beating rather than returning the next morning to drink beer and laugh it off. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Thompson began to recount the incident from his perspective, noting he was discussing his BSA 650 motorcycle at 3:00 a.m. when George attacked his wife. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Workman casually dismissed domestic violence on air, comparing discipline of a woman to beating a rug. - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) The televised debate was cut short for airtime before Thompson could fully present his side of the stomping incident.
## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) Face-to-Face with the Hell's Angels: "60% Cheap Trash"
The broadcast introduces a face-to-face television confrontation between the notorious California motorcycle club and their high-profile chronicler. Described as part of the wildest bunch of outlaws to emerge from the American West since Billy the Kid, a Hell's Angel named Cliff Workman appears on the CBC program to challenge his biographer, the young literary journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson spent a year living, drinking, and riding alongside the Hell's Angels before turning their stories into a bestselling book that drew unanimous acclaim from literary critics. However, the motorcycle riders themselves had not yet had their public say. The broadcast sets the stage by putting the author face-to-face with the reader he may have antagonized the most.
Asked right away what he thought of the published account, Cliff Workman minces no words in dismissing the book's integrity before the studio audience:
> “Well, I'll tell you right now, Hunter, and everybody in this room, that that book is 60% cheap trash.”
When questioned on what constitutes a "typical" Hell's Angel, Workman rejects the sensationalized outlaw caricature. He explains that an Angel could be anyone in the room who loves riding a motorcycle; he points out that he personally holds down a regular job, owns a boat and trailer, and breeds dogs. Thompson wryly pushes back against this domesticated image, claiming that the club deliberately selected Workman to represent them because of his refined demeanor:
> “I think the Angels sent Cliff here as an emissary, as a Minister Plenipotentiary with a high college degree and a yearning for bourgeois respectability.”
Workman brushes aside the notion that the club curates an image for outsiders, stating flatly that club members simply do not care what the public thinks of them.
> “You see, actually, there are none of us that care what anybody thinks, because we are us. I am me. What I do in my home is nobody's business. I don't give a damn if they don't like me on my motorcycle; it's too bad.”
[01:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=118s) The Broken Bargain: Kegs of Beer and Book Royalty Grievances
The exchange quickly pivots from literary critique to unresolved personal grievances over money and unfulfilled promises. Workman challenges Thompson on how their relationship ended, asking why the author left without delivering what he had pledged to the club. Workman contends that Thompson made a small fortune writing about their lives while offering the members virtually nothing in return:
> “Well, this guy here, he's sitting here, he's making a million dollars, and he made it off of us.”
According to Workman, the Angels did not demand a financial cut or a share in the book royalties. Their terms were straightforward: two kegs of beer so the club could get drunk together, along with a personal copy of the finished book for every member of the Oakland chapter. Workman reminds Thompson of the hospitality he received—being welcomed into their homes, fed, and supplied with beer—arguing that Thompson reneged on a basic social obligation.
Thompson counters that the hospitality was mutual, noting that many Angels lived in his own house and drank his beer for months on end. More decisively, Thompson argues that the violent end to his year with the club dissolved any lingering debts:
> “And I got beat up and get my head thumped on. I don't owe you guys nothing.”
[03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) The Stomping: Junkie George, the Beating, and the Rug Philosophy
The conversation shifts directly into the violent brawl that severed Thompson's ties with the gang. Workman insists that Thompson brought the beating on himself by violating the outlaw code and meddling in another man's private household affairs:
> “This man here, you got into a man's personal argument.”
Workman lays out his account of the incident involving an Angel named Junkie George. George was in the middle of beating his woman when his dog bit him. Workman insists that such matters are strictly private:
> “If a guy wants to beat his wife and his dog bites him, that's between the three of them.”
According to Workman, Thompson stepped into the fray without wearing club colors or holding membership status. Workman alleges that Thompson walked straight up to Junkie George and insulted him directly:
> “You walk right up to him and you said, 'Only a punk beats his wife and dog.'”
When George asked if Thompson wanted a fight, Thompson declined, but George and three or four other Angels jumped him anyway and stomped him. Workman faults Thompson not for taking the beating, but for driving off and abandoning the relationship entirely rather than returning the next morning to drink a beer, clear the air, and laugh it off.
Thompson attempts to tell his own version of that night. He recalls that it was around 3:00 in the morning and he was engrossed in a motorcycle conversation—comparing the gear ratios, top speeds, and performance of his BSA 650 against another rider's chopper—when he witnessed Junkie George beating his wife brutally across the rocks. Workman interrupts to defend domestic violence as routine discipline:
> “To keep a woman in line, you got to beat them like a rug once in a while.”
Thompson attempts to explain the subsequent sequence of events—how the dog attacked George and George began kicking the dog—before the television host cuts the segment short due to running out of broadcast time. Thompson protests that he has not been permitted to share his own version of the story, but the host ends the debate and thanks them both as the audience applauds.
- **Workman's terms for the club:** Two kegs of beer and one copy of the book for every Oakland member. - **Thompson's vehicle:** A BSA 650 motorcycle, which he was discussing at 3:00 a.m. when the brawl started. - **Key Angel mentioned:** "Junkie George," whose altercation with his wife and dog triggered the stomping of Thompson. - **Club member asleep in Thompson's car:** Magoo, who was sleeping in the back seat when Thompson fled the scene.
## Notable quotes > [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) Only a punk beats his wife and dog. — Hunter S. Thompson
> [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=188s) If a guy wants to beat his wife and his dog bites him, that's between the three of them. — Cliff Workman
> [00:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo&t=7s) What I do in my home is nobody's business. I don't give a damn if they don't like me on my motorcycle; it's too bad. — Cliff Workman
## Mentioned Hunter S. Thompson, Cliff Workman, Hell's Angels, CBC, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Billy the Kid, Oakland chapter, Junkie George, BSA 650, Magoo
## Video description In this clip from 1967, Hunter S.Thompson comes face to face with a member of the Hell's Angels. Thompson became known internationally for his book "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs". He spent a year living and riding with the Angels, experiencing their lives and hearing their stories first hand. The biker says 60% of the book is "cheap trash". For more classic clips, go to http://www.cbc.ca/archives Subscribe: http://bit.ly/CBCSubscribe Watch CBC: http://bit.ly/CBCFullShows
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Hunter S. Thompson meets a Hell's Angel, 1967 | CBC https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTV
[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo)