![]() Shortly after this parody circulated, Clinton's campaign website denounced Pepe and called it "a symbol associated with white supremacy." And in September 2016, the Anti-Defamation League officially added Pepe the Frog to its database of hate symbols. Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr., who both appeared on the poster, reposted the image, stating that they were proud to be one of the deplorables. Narrator: This led to the creation of a parody of the "Expendables" movie poster where the characters were replaced with conservative figures, known as "The Deplorables." And in that lineup, with Trump and notable conservative leaders, was none other than Pepe the Frog. Hillary Clinton delivered a campaign speech in which she referred to half of Trump's supporters as: Hillary Clinton: A basket of deplorables. Then, in 2016, Pepe's alt-right career came to a boiling point. So they began picking up on this trend, and when they saw someone use Pepe, whether in or out of racist context, they would respond by saying something like this. When journalists asked about the "green face" they often saw "Trumpsters" and alt-right people use, they were met with white-nationalist Pepes as a response. Much like how the echo is used by anti-Semitics to signify Jewish names, members of the alt-right began adding the frog emoji to their Twitter handles in solidarity with white nationalism.Īnd the more curious people got about the racist Pepes, the stronger the connection grew. ![]() More racist frogs appeared, particularly on Twitter, which spurred the movement #FrogTwitter. But this post was the catalyst that fueled the far right's claim of Pepe. And under the video was this image of Pepe.īefore this, only fringe users on social media posted versions of the frog as Klan members or SS personnel. It linked the video "You Can't Stump the Trump " and tagged the notable right-leaning publications Breitbart and the Drudge Report. On October 13, 2015, Donald Trump retweeted this post. This sometimes included racists and even Donald Trump. In reality, Pepe was just so versatile that it was inevitably drawn as everything. But this was later revealed to have been an elaborate prank to mislead journalists. ![]() Now, it was rumored that there was an alt-right campaign to reclaim the meme from the "normies" by associating Pepe with white nationalism. And once Pepe became mainstream, everyone was in on the joke. With new images constantly being produced, Pepe grew stronger and reached mainstream status. This phenomenon generated a mock economy, where the less frequently the meme was posted, the more valuable it was. To keep the joke alive, people began creating "rare Pepes," novel versions of the meme that hadn't been made before. But at this point, Pepe was being shared a little too much, and the inside joke was beginning to lose its comedic value. In 2015, Tumblr reported that it was the No. It represented a relatable range of emotions.Īnd this relatability spread its influence to other social-media networks over the next several years. And some were even putting their own spin on it. More and more users began sharing Pepe on 4chan. This panel was posted as a reaction image on the internet forum 4chan. Then, in 2008, Pepe made his first steps to internet stardom. The humor was generally gross or crude but was completely nonpolitical in nature. It featured Pepe along with his three roommates all living together and hanging out. ![]() The green frog first debuted in 2005 in the comic "Boy's Club" by Matt Furie. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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