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Pepe the Frog Is Dead (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the end-of-the-road dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The creator of Pepe the Frog has symbolically killed off the cartoon frog, effectively surrendering control of the character to the far right. Matt Furie, an artist and children's book author, created the now-infamous frog as part of his "Boy's Club" series on MySpace in 2005. Pepe took on a life of its own online as a meme, before being eventually adopted as a symbol by the "alt-right" in the lead-up to last year's U.S. election. In September, Hillary Clinton identified Pepe the Frog as a racist hate symbol, and Pepe was added to the Anti-Defamation League's database of hate symbols. Furie launched a campaign to "Save Pepe," flooding the internet with "peaceful or nice" depictions of the character in a bid to shake its association with white supremacy and antisemitism. But he now seems to have conceded defeat, killing the character off in a one-page strip for the independent publisher Fantagraphics' Free Comic Book Day. It showed Pepe laid to rest in an open casket, being mourned by his fellow characters from Boy's Club.

2 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. Re: More by divide+overflow · · Score: 0, Troll

    I never heard of Pepe the Frog before the Left branded it a "hate" symbol. The Alt-Right gets all its needed publicity from the Left going nuts over it.

    Political Version of Streisand Effect. By publicizing how awful it is, you're given them more publicity than if everyone simply ignored them. Good Job

    Yeah, the "just ignore it and it will go away on its own" argument. Let's see how your argument sounds when applied to an earlier reinterpreted symbol:

    I never heard of a swastica before the Left branded it a "hate" symbol. The Nazi party get all its needed publicity from the Left going nuts over it.

    Political Version of Streisand Effect. By publicizing how awful it is, you're given them more publicity than if everyone simply ignored them. Good Job

    FIFY?

  2. Re: More by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Like that obama was not born in the USA, or is a secret muslim.

    Things you learn: The Hillary camp were the ones who claimed Obama wasn't born in the USA. Obama himself claimed he was a muslim.