Pepe the Frog (/ˈpɛpeɪ/PEP-ay) is acomic character andInternet meme created by cartoonistMatt Furie. Designed as a greenanthropomorphicfrog with ahumanoid body, Pepe originated in Furie's 2005 comicBoy's Club.[2] The character became an Internet meme when his popularity steadily grew across websites such asMyspace,Gaia Online, and4chan in 2008. By 2015, he had become one of the most popular memes used on 4chan andTumblr.[3] Different types of Pepe memes include "Sad Frog", "Smug Frog", "Angry Pepe", "Feels Frog", and "You will never..." Frog. Since 2014, "§ Rare Pepes" have been posted on the "meme market" as if they weretrading cards.[4][5][6]
Originally an apolitical character, Pepe was appropriated from 2015 onward as a symbol of thealt-right movement.[7][8][9] TheAnti-Defamation League (ADL) included Pepe in its hate symbol database in 2016, but said most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context.[10][11] Since then, Furie has expressed his dismay at Pepe being used as a hate symbol and has sued organizations for doing so.[12]
In 2019, Pepe was used by protesters in the2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Despite being used in a political context, Pepe the Frog's use in Hong Kong is not perceived as being connected with alt-right ideology. Furie has welcomed the use of Pepe by Hong Kong protesters.[13]
Origin:Boy's Club
"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'."
Pepe the Frog was created by American artist and cartoonist Matt Furie in 2005. Its usage as anInternet meme came from his comicBoy's Club #1. The progenitor ofBoy's Club was azine Furie made onMicrosoft Paint calledPlaytime, which included Pepe as a character.[14] He posted his comic in a series of blog posts onMyspace in 2005.[6][15]
In the comic, Pepe is seen urinating with his pants pulled down to his ankles and thecatchphrase "feels good man" was his rationale.[16][17] Furie took those posts down when the printed edition was published in 2006.[6]
As an internet meme
Pepe was used in blog posts onMyspace in 2005 and became anin-joke onGaia Online.[18][6][19] 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".[6]
The meme took off among 4chan users, who adapted Pepe's face and catchphrase to fit different scenarios and emotions, such as melancholy, anger, and surprise.[2] "Feels bad, man", a sad variant of the frog's "feels good, man" catchphrase, also became associated with Pepe.[20] Color was also added; originally a black-and-white line drawing, Pepe became green with brown lips, sometimes in a blue shirt.[15][16] "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.[17]
The "sad frog" variation entered usage onTumblr by 2012.[6][18] That same year, the "Smug Pepe" variant emerged.[18] Versions of the meme appeared on Chinese social media, such asBaidu Tieba, as early as 2014. There, it has been known asshangxin qingwa (傷心青蛙), or "sad frog".[21][22] In 2014, images of Pepe were shared on social media by celebrities such asKaty Perry andNicki Minaj.[6][16][23] 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,[24][25] were sold oneBay and posted onCraigslist.[2][6] 4chan users referred to those who used the meme outside the website as "normies" (or "normalfags").[6][18] Users from 4chan, Reddit, and elsewhere attempted to prevent mainstream usage of the meme by "making Pepe as shocking as possible".[20][18][6]
Also during the election, various news organizations reported associations of the character withwhite nationalism and thealt-right.[31][32][33] In May 2016,Olivia Nuzzi ofThe Daily Beast wrote that 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.[34] In August 2016, Clinton denounced the alt-right in a speech. During the speech, a 4chan user who wasliveblogging the event on the site audibly shouted "Pepe!" at the request of another user.[35][19] In September 2016, an article published onHillary Clinton's campaign website described Pepe as "a symbol associated with white supremacy" and denounced Trump's campaign for its supposed promotion of the meme.[36][37] In 2020, social scientistJoan Donovan said of the Clinton campaign's decision to describe Pepe as an alt-right symbol, "If it weren't for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016 trying to [...] name Pepe as a signifier of the Alt-Right, that kind of recognition probably wouldn't have taken hold [...] In doing so, they showed how much of a newbie they were at what it essentially meant to be online, which in turn created a wave ofmedia attention on which the Alt-Right was ready to coast."[38]
In an interview withEsquire, Furie said of Pepe's usage as a hate symbol, "It sucks, but I can't control it more than anyone can control frogs on the Internet".[39]Fantagraphics Books, Furie's publisher, issued a statement condemning the "illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character".[40] TheAnti-Defamation League, an American organization opposed toantisemitism, included Pepe in its hate symbol database but wrote that most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context.[41][11] Writing inTime on October 13, 2016, Furie said that "I understand that it's out of my control, but in the end, Pepe is whatever you say he is, and I, the creator, say that Pepe islove."[42][43] The next day, the ADL announced that it had partnered with Furie to launch the #SavePepe (or "Save Pepe") campaign, an attempt to associate the symbol with positivity.[44][45][46] As part of that campaign, Furie collected hundreds of "positive or peaceful" versions of Pepe to store in an online "Peace Pepe Database of Love".[47][48] On October 17, 2016, Furie published a satirical take of Pepe's appropriation by the alt-right movement onThe Nib.[49][50] This was his first comic for the character since he endedBoy's Club in 2012.[1]
In January 2017, in a response to "pundits" calling onTheresa May to disrupt Trump's relationship with Russia, theRussian Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of Pepe.[51][52]White supremacistRichard 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.[53][54]
On May 6, 2017, onFree Comic Book Day, it was announced that Furie had killed Pepe off in response to the character's continued use as a hate symbol.[55][56] However, in an interview withCarol Off on her showAs It Happens Furie said that despite news of Pepe's death, he will eventually return: "The end is a chance for a new beginning ... 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."[57][58] Soon thereafter, Furie announced his intention to "resurrect" Pepe, launching a crowdfunding campaign for a new comic book featuring Pepe.[59] In a July 2017 interview withThe Outline, Furie spoke about the comic in which he "killed" Pepe the Frog. He said, "This comic was just kind of my own kind ofart therapy and dealing with the fact that Trump got elected and the new twist on Pepe that ensued. I decided to lay him to rest. But really it was just a joke, and a way for me to deal with the weirdness that was happening."[60]
In June 2017, a proposedapp andFlappy Bird clone called "Pepe Scream" was rejected from theAppleApp Store due to its depiction of Pepe the Frog. The app's developer, under the name "MrSnrhms", posted a screenshot of his rejection letter onr/The Donald. The app is available on theGoogle Play Store.[61][62]
A children's book appropriating the Pepe character,The Adventures of Pepe and Pede, advanced "racist, Islamophobic and hate-filled themes", according to a federal lawsuit Furie filed. The suit was settled out of court in August 2017, with terms including the withdrawal of the book from publication and the profits being donated to the nonprofitCouncil on American-Islamic Relations. Initially self-published, the book was subsequently published byPost Hill Press.[63] The book's author, a vice-principal with theDenton Independent School District, was reassigned after the publicity.[64]
Until September 2018, Social media serviceGab used a Pepe-like illustration of a frog (named "Gabby") as its logo. The site is popular with the alt-right.[65][66]
In 2018, Furie succeeded in having images of Pepe removed fromThe Daily Stormer website.[12]
In January 2019, the video gameJesus Strikes Back: Judgment Day was released, which allows players to play as Pepe the Frog, among other figures, and murder various target groups including feminists, minorities, and liberals.[67]
In June 2019, Furie received a $15,000 out of court settlement in a copyright infringement case againstInfowars andAlex Jones concerning unlicensed use of the image of Pepe the Frog on far-right themed posters. Furie stated that he would continue to "enforce his copyrights aggressively to make sure nobody else is profiting off associating Pepe the Frog with hateful imagery."[12]
Kek
"Kek", from "kekeke"/"ㅋㅋㅋ", a Koreanonomatopoeia of laughter used similarly to "LOL", is the Korean equivalent of the English "haha". Since this is often used inStarCraft matches,Blizzard,Starcraft's developers, decided to reference it inWorld of Warcraft (2004): when a player of the Horde faction types "lol" using the/say messaging command, members of the opposing faction see it as "kek".[68][69] A common misconception is that "kek" originated as a variation of "lel", itself a variation of "lol".[70][71]
During the2016 United States presidential election, Kek became associated withalt-right politics.[72][73][74][75][76][77] Kek is associated with the occurrence of repeating digits, known as "dubs", "trips", "quads", among other terms, in the sequential codes assigned to posts made on 4chan, as if he had the ability to influence reality through Internet memes.[78]
Online message boards such as 4chan first noted a similarity between Kek and Pepe.[79][80][81][82] The phrase is widely used[83] and 4chan users see Kek as the"'god' of memes".[84] The phrase then became associated with the Egyptian deityKek.[83]
"Esoteric Kekism" references the "Esoteric Hitlerism" of writerSavitri Devi.[85] Esoteric Kekism, also called "the Cult of Kek",[86] is a parody religion worshipping Pepe the Frog, which sprang from the similarity of the slang term for laughter, "kek", and the name of the ancient Egyptian frog god of darkness,Kek.[83] This deity, in turn, was associated with Pepe the Frog on internet forums.[83][80] The Internet meme has its origin on the internet message forum4chan and other chans, and the board/pol/ in particular.[83][87] Kek references are closely associated with Trump and the alt-right,[96] and the Kek-Flag was spotted at the2021 storming of the Capitol.[97]In January 2025,Elon Musk briefly changed his username onX to Kekius Maximus, with a profile image of Pepe in Roman military dress, and sent up the value of the memecoin.[98][99][100]
Kekistan is afictional country created by 4chan users that has become a political meme and online movement.[102] The name is derived from "kek" and the suffix "-stan", a commonCentral Asian country suffix. Since late 2016, the satirical ethnicity of Kekistani has been used by U.S.-based alt-right protesters opposed to what they view as political correctness. These "Kekistanis" decry the supposed "oppression" of their people and troll counterprotesters by waving the "national flag of Kekistan" (modeled after theNazi war flag, with the red replaced by green, theIron Cross replaced by the logo for4chan, and theswastika replaced by a rubric for KEK).[102][103][104] This flag was prominently displayed at the2017 Berkeley protest for free speech in mid-April,[105][106] and theUnite the Right rally in August 2017,[107][108] and was carried by supporters ofDonald Trump during the2021 storming of the United States Capitol.[109] Self-identified Kekistanis have created a fictional history around the meme, including the invasion and overthrow of other fictional countries such as "Normistan" and "Cuckistan".[103][110] Kekistanis have also adopted Internet personality Gordon Hurd (in his "Big Man Tyrone" persona) as their president and the 1986 Italo disco record "Shadilay" as anational anthem.[110] The record gained attention from the group in September 2016 because of the name of the group (P.E.P.E.) and art on the record depicting a frog holding a magic wand.[87]
A variation of Pepe known as "Groyper" or "Easter Toad" was used as early as 2015, and became popular in 2017.[111] Groyper is depicted as a rotund green, frog-like creature with its chin resting on interlocked fingers.[111][112] There is some disagreement around the specifics of Groyper: it has been described as a depiction of the Pepe character,[112] a different character from Pepe but of the same species,[113] or atoad.[111] The Groyper meme is the namesake forGroypers, a loose group of white nationalist activists and followers ofNick Fuentes.[111][112][114]
Use in Hong Kong protests
Pepe imagery displayed in the streets of Hong Kong during the 2019 protests
Hong Kong protestors began to use depictions of Pepe the Frog as a symbol of liberty and resistance against the extradition bill andpolice brutality in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. New images of Pepe the Frog surfaced showing Pepe with an injured eye after a young female first aider had her eye injured by a projectile fired by police; the incident spurred a new protest campaign called "An eye for an eye". A sign with Pepe with an injured eye held by a young nurse with one eye covered gained international media attention.[117] Furie responded in an email with a protester, stating "This is great news! Pepe for the people!".[118][13]
In the Hong Kong context, Pepe the Frog is not perceived as being connected with far-right ideology.[117][119] Hong Kongers were also generally unaware that Pepe the Frog had been appropriated by the alt-right and white supremacists in the United States.[116]
Rare Pepe
Arare Pepe orRarePepe is a variation on the "Pepe the Frog"internet meme. The related Rare Pepe crypto project, created by various artists worldwide between 2016 and 2018, was based on the aforementioned meme and traded asnon-fungible tokens (NFTs) recorded on theCounterParty platform. A total of 1,774 official cards were released for the project across 36 series.[120] On October 26, 2021, a rare Pepe,PEPENOPOULOS, sold at aSotheby's auction for $3.6m USD.[121] Amongst other icons, it was featured on aFortune magazine cover dedicated to a special report about cryptocurrency.[122]
History
In 2015, a subset of Pepe memes began to be referred to as 'rare Pepes', with watermarks such as "RARE PEPE DO NOT SAVE", generally meaning that the artist had not previously posted the meme publicly.[2] In April 2015, a collection of rare Pepes was listed oneBay where it reached a price of $99,166 before being removed from the site.[123]
In September 2016, the very first rare Pepes were mined in block 428919 onBitcoin, pre-dating popularEthereum-basedNFTs. ATelegram chat group dedicated to discussing theCounterparty NFT was created shortly after.[124][125] By 2017, a community had grown around the digitalcollectables,[126] spurring developers to build platforms for the purpose of cataloging and exchanging these images, thereby creating the firstcrypto art market in 2016.[127]
In March 2022, a buyer who spent $537,084 on a rare Pepe filed a lawsuit claiming fraudulent misrepresentation, alleging that only one copy was to be sold whereas 46 copies were subsequently given away, devaluing his investment.[130][131]
Trading platforms
Two components, created simultaneously, both support each other to enable interaction and asset exchange among both contributors and market participants:
"Rare Pepe Wallet" is a web-based, encrypted wallet developed to allow users to buy, sell, and store rare Pepes using a medium of exchange called PepeCash.[132] The backbone of the Rare Pepe Wallet is the Counterparty platform, which is built upon thebitcoin network.
"Rare Pepe Directory" was a directory built to catalog all known rare Pepes, with specific guidelines for submitting the images for inclusion. The Rare Pepe Foundation removed any offensive images that were submitted before they became visible.[133]
Crypto artists used these resources to publish their work as digital tokens with a fixed circulation[126] and then issued the art to collectors who then sold, traded, or stored their collections.
Collectors use the 'Rare Pepe Blockchain Trading' channel on theTelegram instant messaging platform to discuss with other collectors.[133]
Documentary
A 2020 documentary,Feels Good Man, relates the story of Pepe's origins and co-option by the alt-right, and Furie's attempts to regain control over his creation.[134]
^de Seta, Gabriele (December 2019). Bown, Alfie (ed.)."PEPE GOES TO CHINA".Tank. Dan Bristow.Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved18 January 2022.
^abcdeBurton, Tara Isabella (February 14, 2017)."Apocalypse Whatever".Real Life.Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 24, 2017.
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