It’s Kermit vs. Pepe as Twittersphere Fights ‘Alt-Right’ With Feel-Good Frog

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Watch out, Pepe! In a fight against anti-Semitic and racist attacks, Twitter users are now using a secret weapon: Kermit the Frog.
Kermit is framed as an anti-bigotry (but equally green) alternative to Pepe the Frog. Pepe is popular among “alt-right” Twitter trolls and white supremacists, and was recently declared an official hate-symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.
The feel-good counterattack was started earlier this week by Josh Marshall, the creator of Talking Points Memo, a liberal political news site.
I feel like the rest of us need to get behind a canonical pluralism frog to turn back the tide, re-appropriate what’s been lost. pic.twitter.com/bjXTzjR56c
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 3, 2016
Soon after people started tweeting pro-Kermit and anti-Pepe memes using the hashtags #TakingBackTheFrog and #ImWithKer – a play on Hillary Clinton’s popular slogan #ImWithHer.
Here are some of our favorite examples
Only one frog soars above the rest as a symbol of hope and possibility. #takingbackthefrog #teamkermit @joshtpm pic.twitter.com/nZQrkqYbyf
— Mike Scholtz (@MikeScholtz) October 3, 2016
You’d better believe #ImWithKer. pic.twitter.com/8QFzGjPfAY
— BRAAAINS! Jay Jones (@brianjayjones) October 3, 2016
#ImWithKer because Sesame Street has known about Donald Grump since I was a kid. pic.twitter.com/aRlz15mOp4
— Dusty (@DustinGiebel) October 3, 2016
Because Kermit has always appreciated strong outspoken women#ImwithKer #PluralismFrog #TeamKermit #TakingBacktheFrog @joshtpm pic.twitter.com/MVF3Uu08cs
— (((Hey))) (@NoThatVeck) October 3, 2016
He’s spent YEARS in loyal service to his country (not like that Draft Dodger, Pepe). #ImWithKer pic.twitter.com/TcgD4Ca3kt
— Girls Really Rule. (@girlsreallyrule) October 3, 2016
@joshtpm #MakeAmericaKermitAgain pic.twitter.com/WJXnoALfVU
— kenny (@kennyjacobs) October 3, 2016
#ImWithKer because teaching kids to hate is not ok. pic.twitter.com/EGg3oZbs1I
— Renée (@Rawr_is_me79) October 3, 2016
#ImWithKer because I want something better for us than bigotry. pic.twitter.com/UEaPgzEkGQ
— jenn (@JezebelButler) October 3, 2016
#Imwithker #ImWithHer pic.twitter.com/s0sMWHw6V5
— George A. Hickman (@popmortem) October 3, 2016
Kermit gets it. #imwithker pic.twitter.com/k12LfVKJiY
— Tammaria Blue (@Tammariablue) October 3, 2016
Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @lillymmaier
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