It’s Kermit vs. Pepe as Twittersphere Fights ‘Alt-Right’ With Feel-Good Frog
Image by Screenshot
By Lilly Maier October 5, 2016
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 maier@forward.com or on Twitter at @lillymmaier
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
