Pepe the Frog

Pepe
Boy's Club character
First appearance 2005 in Boy's Club[1]
Created by Matt Furie
Information
Species Frog
Gender Male

Pepe the Frog /pɛpeɪ/ is a popular Internet meme. The green anthropomorphic frog with a frog-like face and a humanoid body is originally from a comic series by Matt Furie called Boy's Club.[2] It became an Internet meme when its popularity steadily grew across Myspace, Gaia Online and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, it had become one of the most popular memes used on 4chan.

Beginning in 2015, the character's image has been appropriated as a symbol of the controversial alt-right movement. The Anti-Defamation League added Pepe the Frog to their database of hate symbols in 2016, adding that not all Pepe memes are racist.[3] Since then, Pepe's creator has publicly expressed his dismay at Pepe being used as a hate symbol.[4]

The meme's original use has evolved over time and has many variants, including Sad Frog, Smug Frog, Feels Frog, and "You will never..." Frog.[5]

History

Pepe the Frog was created by American artist Matt Furie in 2005. Its usage as a meme came from his comic, Boy's Club #1. The progenitor of Boy's Club was a zine that Furie made on Microsoft Paint called Playtime, which included Pepe as a character.[6] He posted his comic in a series of blog posts on Myspace in 2005.[5][7]

In the comic, Pepe is seen urinating with his pants pulled down to his ankles and the catchphrase "feels good man" was his rationale.[8][9] Furie took those posts down when the printed edition was published in 2006.[5]

"My Pepe philosophy is simple: 'Feels good man.' It is based on the meaning of the word Pepe: 'To go Pepe.' I find complete joy in physically, emotionally, and spiritually serving Pepe and his friends through comics. Each comic is sacred, and the compassion of my readers transcends any differences, the pain, and fear of 'feeling good.'"

–Matt Furie, 2015 interview with The Daily Dot[2]

Pepe was used in blog posts on Myspace and became an in-joke on Internet forums, such as Gaia Online. In 2008, the page containing Pepe and the catchphrase was scanned and uploaded to 4chan's /b/ board, which has been described as the meme's "permanent home".[5] The meme took off among 4chan users, who adapted Pepe's face and the catchphrase to fit different scenarios and emotions, such as melancholy, anger, and surprise.[2] Color was also added; originally a black and white line drawing, Pepe became green with brown lips, sometimes in a blue shirt.[7][8] "Feels Guy", or "Wojak", originally an unrelated character typically used to express melancholy, was eventually often paired with Pepe in user-made comics or images.[9]

In 2014, images of Pepe were shared on social media by celebrities such as Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj.[5][8][10] As Pepe became more widespread, 4chan users began referring to particularly creative and unique variants of the meme as "rare Pepes." These images, sometimes as physical paintings,[11][12] were put up for sale and auction on eBay and posted in listings on Craigslist.[2][5] 4chan users referred to those who used the meme outside of the website as "normies" (or "normalfags") in response to the meme's increase in usage.[5] In 2015, Pepe was #6 on Daily News and Analysis' list of the most important memes and was the most retweeted meme on Twitter.[13][14]

Association with the alt-right


A man holds up a sign saying "DEPLORABLES AND ALT-RIGHT UNITE" with a cartoon frog in the corner.
An alt-right activist holds up a sign featuring Pepe at the March 4 Trump in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

During the 2016 United States presidential election, the meme was connected to Donald Trump's campaign. In October 2015, Donald Trump retweeted a Pepe representation of himself, associated with a video called "You Can't Stump the Trump (Volume 4)".[3][15] Later in the election, Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr. posted a parody movie poster of The Expendables on Twitter and Instagram titled "The Deplorables", a play of Hillary Clinton's controversial phrase, basket of deplorables, which included Pepe's face among those of members of the Trump family and other figures popular among the alt-right.[16]

Also during the election, associations of the character with white nationalism and the alt-right were described by various news organizations.[17][18][19] In May 2016, Olivia Nuzzi of The Daily Beast wrote how there was "an actual campaign to reclaim Pepe from normies" and that "turning Pepe into a white nationalist icon" was an explicit goal of some on the alt-right.[20] In September 2016, an article published on Hillary Clinton's campaign website described Pepe as "a symbol associated with white supremacy" and denounced Donald Trump's campaign for its supposed promotion of the meme.[21][22] The same month, the two sources for Nuzzi's Daily Beast article revealed to The Daily Caller that they had coordinated beforehand to mislead Nuzzi (particularly about the existence of a campaign) under the expectation that she would uncritically repeat what she was told, with one saying, "Basically, I interspersed various nuggets of truth and exaggerated a lot of things, and sometimes outright lied — in the interest of making a journalist believe that online Trump supporters are largely a group of meme-jihadis who use a cartoon frog to push Nazi propaganda. Because this was funny to me."[23] The Anti-Defamation League, an American organization opposed to antisemitism, included Pepe in its hate symbol database but noted that most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context.[24][25] In January 2017, in a response to "pundits" calling on Theresa May to disrupt Trump's relationship with Russia, The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of Pepe.[26][27] White supremacist Richard B. Spencer, during a street interview after Trump's inauguration, was preparing to explain the meaning of a Pepe pin on his jacket when he was punched in the face, with the resulting video itself becoming the source of many memes.[28][29]

In an interview with Esquire, Furie commented on Pepe's usage as a hate symbol, stating: "It sucks, but I can't control it more than anyone can control frogs on the Internet".[30] Fantagraphics Books, Furie's publisher, issued a statement condemning the "illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character".[31] On October 17, Furie published a satirical take of Pepe's appropriation by the alt-right movement on The Nib.[32][33] This was his first comic for the character since he ended Boy's Club in 2012.[1] In May 2017 it was announced that Furie had killed Pepe off in response to the character's continued use as a hate symbol.[34] However, in an interview with Carol Off on her interview show As It Happens Furie stated that despite news of the Pepe's death, fans haven’t seen the last of him stating: "The end is a chance for a new beginning," and that "I got some plans for Pepe that I can’t really discuss, but he’s going to rise from the ashes like a phoenix … in a puff of marijuana smoke."[35][36] Shortly later, Furie announced his intention to "resurrect" Pepe, launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a new comic book featuring Pepe.[37]

On June 2017, a proposed app and Flappy Bird clone called "Pepe Scream" was rejected from the Apple App Store due to its depiction of Pepe the Frog. The developer of the app, under the name "MrSnrhms", posted a screenshot of his rejection letter on /r/The Donald. The app in question is available on Google Play.[38][39]

Kek

"Esoteric Kekism",[40] or the Cult of Kek,[41] is a term for the parody religion of worshipping Pepe the Frog, which sprung from the similarity of the slang term for laughter, "kek", and the name of the ancient Egyptian frog god of darkness, Kek.[42] This deity, in turn, was associated with Pepe the Frog on internet forums.[42][43] The internet meme has its origin on the internet message forum 4chan and other chans, and the board /pol/ in particular.[42][44] Kek references are closely associated with the alt-right[45][46][47][48] and Donald Trump.[49][50][51][52]

The phrase "kek" originated as a variation of the phrase "lol"[53][54] and seems to originate from the video game World of Warcraft.[55] The phrase then became associated with the Egyptian deity of the same name.[42] "Esoteric Kekism" references the "Esoteric Hitlerism" of writer Savitri Devi.[40][56]

During the 2016 United States presidential election, Kek became associated with alt-right politics.[57][58][59][60][61][62] Kek is associated with the occurrence of repeating digits, known as "dubs", on 4chan, as if he had the ability to influence reality through internet memes.[63]

Online message boards, such as 4chan, first noted a similarity between Kek and the character Pepe the Frog.[64][43][65][66] The phrase is widely used[42] and 4chan users see Kek as the "'god' of memes".[67]

Kekistan

Kekistan is a fictional country created by 4chan members that has become a political meme and online movement.[68] According to Ian Miles Cheong writing in Heat Street, the name is a portmanteau of "kek" and the suffix "-stan", which is Persian for "place of" (and the end of several names of actual Central Asian countries and regions), and Kekistanis identify themselves as 'shitposters' persecuted by excessive political correctness.[69] He writes that "although there are undoubtedly some trolls that use the term, the online movement is fundamentally a politically incorrect reaction to the suppression of free speech".[69] Self-identified Kekistanis have created a cultural mythology around the fictitious country, including a fictional history that includes the invasion and overthrow of the ancient kingdom by the nations of "Normistan" and "Cuckistan".[70]

Cheong credits YouTuber Sargon of Akkad as being instrumental in popularizing the meme.[69] When Benjamin noticed that shitposters technically could classify as an ethnic group for the British Census, he contacted them and requested that Kekistani be added to the census.[71] After his video on the subject, the meme spread rapidly with the hashtag #FreeKekistan. He was eventually unsuccessful in getting the tongue-in-cheek ethnicity added to the British Census, and credited his failure as partly due to the listing at Know Your Meme.[72] He suggested that if only 10,000 or so people write in 'Kekistani' as their ethnicity in the 2021 Census, it could become an official ethnicity of Britain, similar to the Jedi census phenomenon.[72]

As a satirical ethnicity it was soon taken up politically in the United States as an emblem for alt-right protesters against political correctness in late 2016 and 2017, with 'Kekistanis' decrying the 'oppression' of their people and trolling protesters by waving the 'national flag of Kekistan' (modeled after the Nazi War Flag, with the red replaced by green, the Iron Cross replaced by the logo for 4chan, and the swastika replaced by a rubric for KEK).[70][73][74][68] As such it was prominently displayed at the 2017 Berkeley protest for free speech in mid-April.[75][76]

Cheong writes that the meme also includes the term "Shadilay", used as a greeting, referring to the 1986 album by P.E.P.E featuring a green frog on the album artwork.[69] The song is also used as a national anthem for the fictional country.

Other uses

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Priscilla, Frank (September 30, 2016). "The Strange Internet Journey Of Pepe The ‘Chilled-Out Stoner Frog’". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Khan, Imad (April 12, 2015). "4chan's Pepe the Frog is bigger than ever—and his creator feels good, man". The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Pepe the Frog meme branded a 'hate symbol'". BBC News. 2016-09-28. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  4. ↑ "Pepe The Frog: From Innocent Meme To Hate Symbol". Super Deluxe.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kiberd, Roisin (April 9, 2015). "4chan's Frog Meme Went Mainstream, So They Tried to Kill It". Motherboard. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  6. ↑ Furino, Giaco (August 3, 2016). "Pepe the Frog's Creator Talks Making Zine History". The Creators Project. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Mazur, AJ (August 7, 2010). "Q&A with Matt Furie". Know Your Meme. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Collins, Sean T. (July 28, 2015). "The Creator of Pepe the Frog Talks About Making Comics in the Post-Meme World". VICE. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Haskell, Will (July 30, 2015). "This guy created the frog meme that's all over the internet — here's why he's 'kinda pissed off'". Tech Insider. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ Notopoulos, Katie (May 11, 2015). "1,272 Rare Pepes". BuzzFeed. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  11. ↑ Blevins, Joe (October 28, 2015). "Read This: Could images of 4chan's "sad frog" meme actually be worth money?". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  12. ↑ Bergado, Gabe (September 10, 2015). "The rare Pepe trade is booming on Craigslist". The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  13. ↑ Nair, Roshni (December 27, 2015). "Best of 2015: 15 memes that won the internet". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Here are the 10 most important memes of 2015, according to Tumblr". Irish Examiner. December 8, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  15. ↑ Resnick, Gideon (October 20, 2015). "4chan 4 Trump". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  16. ↑ Dickson, Caitlin (September 12, 2016). "Trump's son, adviser share image featuring white nationalists' favorite cartoon frog". Yahoo! News. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  17. ↑ Sarlin, Benjy (August 25, 2016). "5 Things to Know About the 'Right'". NBC News. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  18. ↑ Dovere, Edward-Isaac (September 12, 2016). "Why Clinton's bad weekend won't rewrite the race". Politico. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ Kampeas, Ron (September 1, 2016). "Do alt-right's white identity politics sanction anti-Semitism?". J Weekly. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  20. ↑ Nuzzi, Olivia (May 26, 2016). "How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt-Right Symbol". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  21. ↑ Chan, Elizabeth (September 12, 2016). "Donald Trump, Pepe the frog, and white supremacists: an explainer". Hillary for America. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ Revesz, Rachael (September 13, 2016). "Hillary Clinton attacks Donald Trump for posting Pepe the Frog meme". The Independent. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  23. ↑ Bennett, Jonah (September 14, 2016). "Here’s How Two Twitter Pranksters Convinced The World That Pepe The Frog Meme Is Just A Front For White Nationalism". The Daily Caller News Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  24. ↑ Smith IV, Jack (September 27, 2016). "Pepe the Frog meme is now on the ADL's hate symbol database. Feels bad, man.". Mic. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Pepe the Frog". Anti-Defamation League. September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  26. ↑ Marcin, Tim (January 9, 2017). "Russian Embassy Posts Pepe The Frog Meme, A White Supremacist Hate Symbol, According To ADL". International Business Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  27. ↑ Beauchamp, Zack (January 9, 2017). "The Russian government just tweeted an image of a white supremacist frog". Vox. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  28. ↑ Murphy, Paul P. White nationalist Richard Spencer punched during interview CNN Politics 1/21/2017
  29. ↑ Amatulli, Jenna Pepe's creator comments on alt-right leader Richard Spencer getting punched Huffington Post, 1/23/2017
  30. ↑ Miller, Matt (September 28, 2016). "Exclusive: The Creator of Pepe the Frog Is Voting for Hillary". Esquire. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  31. ↑ "The Truth About Pepe the Frog". Fantagraphics Books. October 6, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  32. ↑ Wade, Cameron (October 17, 2016). "Pepe the Frog Creator Matt Furie Pens New Comic Showing Pepe's Alt-Right Nightmare". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  33. ↑ Powell, Austin (October 17, 2016). "Pepe the Frog creator's new Trump comic captures the horror of the 2016 election". Daily Dot. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Pepe the Frog 'is killed off to avoid being a hate symbol'". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  35. ↑ Editor, News. "Pepe lives! Artist Matt Furie says internet-famous frog will 'rise from the ashes' | NEWS CLUB". www.news.club. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  36. ↑ "As It Happens | Pepe lives! Artist Matt Furie says internet-famous frog will 'rise from the ashes'". CBC Listen. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  37. ↑ "Pepe the Frog rises from the dead, creator says". ABC News. 2017-06-27. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  38. ↑ Koebler, Jason; Matsakis, Louise (June 9, 2017). "Pepe Is Banned From the Apple App Store". Motherboard. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  39. ↑ Tarantola, Andrew (June 9, 2017). "Apple deems Pepe 'objectionable' and bans the frog from its App Store". Engadget. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  40. 1 2 Smith, Blake. "Writings of French Hindu who worshipped Hitler as an avatar of Vishnu are inspiring the US alt-right". scroll.in.
  41. ↑ "How an ancient Egyptian god spurred the rise of Trump". The Conversation. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 Tara Isabella Burton (2017-02-14). "Apocalypse Whatever". Real Life Mag. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
  43. 1 2 Menegus, Bryan. "Trump Supporters Outraged By Slight To Pepe Meme". Gizmodo.
  44. ↑ "Trump Supporters And Neo-Nazis Are Using Secret Chatrooms To Harass Shia LaBeouf". Buzzfeed.
  45. ↑ "The Emerging Racists: The Challenge of Covering the Radical Right". splcenter.org.
  46. ↑ "Steal This Show S02E02: 'The Platform Is You'". TorrentFreak. 14 September 2016.
  47. ↑ "In Elaborate Joke, Internet Provocateurs Turn ‘Trash Bird’ Into Nazi Icon". forward.com.
  48. ↑ Goldberg, Michelle (23 February 2017). "Alt-Right Facts". Slate.
  49. ↑ "Les trolls de 4chan sont persuadés d'avoir fait élire Donald Trump" (in French). Slate.
  50. ↑ Nunez, E. J. (2 November 2016). "Alt-right is a new, evolving movement". The Cougar.
  51. ↑ Dickson, Caitlin (November 23, 2016). "What ‘alt-right’ really means: a glossary of terms". Yahoo! News.
  52. ↑ "More Swastikas Surface In Hell's Kitchen, Newtown Creek Nature Walk". gothamist.com.
  53. ↑ "Mosque Arson Suspect Left Social Media Hints of Anti-Muslim, Anti-Semitic Views". splcenter.org.
  54. ↑ "Alt-right trolls Pennsylvania with billboard of Trump Pepe". The Daily Dot. 6 October 2016.
  55. ↑ "Wew, lad: Everyone hates this meme that simply refuses to die". The Daily Dot. 12 September 2016.
  56. ↑ Savitri; Devi, Savitri (8 June 2015). The Lightning and the Sun. Counter Currents Publishing, Limited – via Google Books.
  57. ↑ Moomaw, Graham. "In Charlottesville, GOP candidate for governor Corey Stewart allies with alt-right-inspired blogger who wants to protect 'glorious Western civilization'". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
  58. ↑ "Naked Nigel, the God Kek and modern politics". BBC.
  59. ↑ King, James (Nov 22, 2016). "Cucks & Kek: Racism’s Old Guard Reaches Out To An Online Generation". Vocativ.
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  61. ↑ "Meet the White Nationalist Trying To Ride The Trump Train to Lasting Power". Mother Jones. motherjones.com.
  62. ↑ Hathaway, Jay (Nov 7, 2016). "Trump Fans Unleash Last-Minute Flood of Pepe the Frog Memes". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  63. ↑ "Trump’s Occult Online Supporters Believe ‘Meme Magic’ Got Him Elected". Vice.
  64. ↑ Singal, Jesse. "4chan Isn’t Sure Whether It’s Excited the Times Wrote Up Its Anti-Semitism". nymag.com.
  65. ↑ Posner, Sarah (24 February 2017). "CPAC's Flirtation With the Alt-Right Is Turning Awkward". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  66. ↑ "The alt-right is trying to co-opt that dumb purple bird on Facebook". The Daily Dot. 15 February 2017.
  67. ↑ Hine, G. E., Onaolapo, J., De Cristofaro, E., Kourtellis, N., Leontiadis, I., Samaras, R., Stringhini, G., Blackburn, J. (2016, October 11). A Longitudinal Measurement Study of 4chan's Politically Incorrect Forum and its Effect on the Web. Social and Information Networks. Retrieved October 14, 2016. arXiv:1610.03452
  68. 1 2 Wilson, Jason (23 May 2017). "Hiding in plain sight: how the 'alt-right' is weaponizing irony to spread fascism". The Gaurdian. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  69. 1 2 3 4 Cheong, Ian Miles (29 May 2017). "What is Kekistan? The Internet’s Most Controversial Political Meme Explained". Heatstreet. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  70. 1 2 Neiwert, David (8 May 2017). "What the Kek: Explaining the Alt-Right ‘Deity’ Behind Their ‘Meme Magic’". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  71. ↑ Alonso, Nicolás (21 February 2017). "Trump World Dictionary [Translated from Spanish]". El País. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  72. 1 2 Benjamin, Carl (12 March 2017). "Sargon of Akkad explains Kekistan to The Amazing Atheist #FreeKekistan". YouTube. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  73. ↑ Woods, Baynard (10 May 2017). "Populism, belonging, and inside jokes". Charlston City Paper.
  74. ↑ Woods, Baynard (8 May 2017). "Democracy in Crisis: Populism, Belonging, and Inside Jokes at Trump’s Reality Show Rally". Washington City Paper.
  75. ↑ "kekbanner.jpg". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  76. ↑ Lenz, Ryan (2017-05-01). "The Battle for Berkeley: In the name of freedom of speech, the radical right is circling the Ivory Tower to ensure a voice for the alt-right". SPLC.
  77. ↑ Trump Supporters And Neo-Nazis Are Using Secret Chatrooms To Harass Shia LaBeouf BuzzFeed News
  78. ↑ "Te Pepe by David Astil". New Zealand Government. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  79. ↑ Hunt, Elle (May 14, 2015). "New Zealand's new flag: 15 quirky contenders". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  80. ↑ Power, Julie (May 16, 2015). "New Zealand flag designs: Kwi, piwi or kiwi?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  81. ↑ Fleishman, Cooper (January 4, 2017). "Wendy's just tweeted the Pepe the Frog meme, a white supremacist mascot". Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  82. ↑ Taylor, Kate (January 4, 2017). "Wendy's won and lost an epic Twitter troll war in just 24 hours". Business Insider. Retrieved January 9, 2017.

Further reading

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