Creator of Pepe the Frog ‘white supremacist’ meme wants to reclaim him as ‘universal symbol of peace and love’ – The Sun
Artist Matt Furie attempts to regain control of controversial croaker associated with Trump and the 'alt-right'
THE creator of the infamous Pepe the Frog character thats been plastered across news channels since the 2016 United States presidential election is trying to reclaim him from the internet.
Artist Matt Furie has launched a bid to rebrand his creation as a symbol of love, peace and acceptance after it was described as an emblem of racism and intolerance.
Several left-wing publications have spread the claim that Pepe the Frog is purely a white supremacist icon.
Pepe was once considered so innocuous that Katy Perry tweeted a picture of him out back in 2014.
A year before the election, Donald Trump even tweeted a picture of himself rendered as Pepe the Frog, which had already been a mainstream internet meme at that point.
This controversial amphibian rose to infamy during the last US election when supporters of Trump hailing from the internet forum 4chan embraced the character as their mascot.
But following one-sided descriptions of the character as a white supremacist meme by websites like Salon, Slate, and Vox, the US-based Anti-Defamation League eventually designated Pepe a hate symbol.
Companies were then criticised for using the image, with the burger chain Wendys facing backlash for tweeted out the character from its logo made up to look like the frog.
Pepes creator is a proud supporter of Hillary Clinton and was reportedly furious to see his character turned into a hate symbol, as Pepe is most often referred to by the progressive left.
Furie tried (and failed) to reclaim Pepe by killing him and drawing him dead in an open casket.
This is an effort to rebrand Pepe the Frog as a symbol of love, peace and acceptance.
Few people noticed, but Pepes more extreme fans responded by radicalising Furies other creations into the most shocking caricatures they could possibly imagine.
The frog was rendered a neo-Nazi, ISIS zealot and even Adolf Hitler.
But to the Kekistani community on the Internet, which comprises of self-proclaimed s***posters across the political spectrum, Pepe stands as a symbol as against political correctness and progressive social justice.
With his efforts to kill Pepe the Frog in shambles, Furie is making a second attempt to reclaim the character from right-wing trolls by reimagining him for a new audience.
This is an effort to rebrand Pepe the Frog as a symbol of love, peace and acceptance, wrote the artist.
He launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to resurrect Pepe in a new comic series, seeking $10,000 in pledges to draw remove any hateful connotations from the character.
AP:Associated Press
Most people who like the character arent even aware of its origins in Furies Boys Club comic from 2005, so there is very little chance Matt Furies latest efforts will do much to reclaim it.
Whether he likes it or not, Pepe now belongs to the public.
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