‘Alt-Right’ Icon Pepe The Frog Is ‘Officially Dead’
Image by tumblr
By Sam Kestenbaum May 8, 2017
The online cartoon Pepe the Frog was “killed off” by its creator, seemingly in bid to stop his image being hijacked by the “alt-right.”
Over the weekend, Pepe’s creator Matt Furie posted a comic strip depicting a funeral for the frog character, attended by other characters from Furie’s Boy’s Club strip.
“It’s a clear declaration that Pepe is now dead,” the blogger Marykate Jasper wrote. “The alt-right has killed the joy.”
In September Pepe was added to the Anti-Defamation League’s database of “hate symbols,” joining the swastika and the Ku Klux Klan’s burning cross.
Furie and the ADL attempted an online campaign to “save Pepe” from becoming an “alt-right” icon. It looks like that is over, wrote Rich Johnston wrote on the website BleedingCool.com.
“After an attempt to Save Pepe from such appropriation, it seems that Furie has given up trying,” Johnson wrote.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief
