this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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I don't like how people continue to use pepe to signify the right, I have literally never seen someone use pepe as a right wing hate symbol or whatever the fuck and even if they do I don't give a shit, pepe did nothing wrong.
"(Pepe) he currently remains one of the most popular memes in the world"
Free Pepe! The most popular meme in the world is not a hate symbol unless you want it to be one, and I say it defintely isn't.
"In an interview with Esquire, Furie (creator of pepe) said of Pepe's usage as a hate symbol, "It sucks, but I can't control it more than anyone can control frogs on the Internet".[39] Fantagraphics Books, Furie's publisher, issued a statement condemning the "illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character".[40] The Anti-Defamation League, an American organization opposed to antisemitism, included Pepe in its hate symbol database but wrote that most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context." - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog
I 100% get where you're coming from.
At the same time, it only took one guy with one style of mustache that plenty of other people were using to ruin it for everyone else.
Tell that to Michael Jordan
Pepe did nothing wrong!
The left wing is full of idiots who drown themselves in purity testing. I've seen so many morons who think that anything touched by any right wing person has to avoided like the plague otherwise you're right wing too. It's same mentality that 1st graders have about cooties. What makes this case particularly dumb is that Pepe, as well as Wojak, are meme templates made by the internet. That means they're owned by no one and they stand for nothing. They exist to portray specific emotions that people relate to, that's it.
Pepe deserved better.
I can understand not wanting to cede a meme to right-wing whack jobs, but the idea that you've never seen it use that way is nuts. I mean you must be actively burying your head in the sand not to have seen it use that way. Cuz it happens a lot.
Where do you see it used that way?
Good Lord so many places. You should click on that link the other guy provided. There's a whole section about them it's extremely well documented. When the Anti-Defamation League first declared it a hate symbol there was so many examples they used and documented. That stupid frog with Hitler mustaches with Nazi hats with klan hoods, all over the place. Hell I remember in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election that a subreddit of Trumps was basically all Pepe memes.
Like I said it was pervasive and widespread. People are very good at creating bubbles for themselves, but that doesn't mean those bubbles are legitimate.
Not going to places like 4chan and the trump subreddit hardly seems like being in a bubble. Those place seem more like places you only go to if you are in a specific bubble. Not suggesting those places haven't used it that way, but rather I don't think normies spend enough time in places where they'd see clear examples like that.
That said, I'm certainly aware that I prefer small online communities, which leads to biased views on things.
You Wish It just stayed there. It didn't. Again you can read about this. It permeated.
The normies I've talked to either are like "wtf is a pepe" or just see it as a funny meme frog.
/b/ and /pol/ incessantly since 2015. Kiwifarms. Reddit as well. “Clownworld.”