The US Anti-Defamation League (ADL) lamented Tuesday that Pepe the Frog, a popular internet meme, has now become a hate symbol.
In a statement, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and the watchdog said they were furious with the recent anti-Semitic threats coupled with the frog meme. “Images of the frog, variously portrayed with a Hitler-like moustache, wearing a yarmulke or a Klan hood, have proliferated in recent weeks in hateful messages aimed at Jewish and other users on Twitter,” the statement read.
“Once again, racists and haters have taken a popular Internet meme and twisted it for their own purposes of spreading bigotry and harassing users.”
Pepe the Frog was originally a simple cartoon character created in 2005 by Matt Furie, the artist behind the “Boy’s Club” comics. However, in 2008, a comic of Pepe with his pulled pants while urinating benchmark a spat of Pepe memes up to this moment, Knowyourmeme researched.
Since then, the sad frog character became popular and was associated with gloomy quotes and statements, including “feels good, man,” “feels bad, man” and “You Will Never…”. Various Pepe memes like Sad Pepe, Angry Pepe, Smug Frog, Poo Poo Pee Pee and Rare Pepe were also created.
The once-funny meme loomed into a symbol of white supremacy, anti-Semitic and other bigoted themes. Pepe was once used as a cartoon for Donald Trump’s 2016 bid for the presidency.
This was the second time ADL declared a symbol as “racist” and discriminatory.” In June, the ADL designated the “(((echo)))” symbol as a hate symbol after white supremacists used it to bully Americans of Jewish descent. Gianna Francesca Catolico
