September 28, 2016

 

Online cartoon Pepe the Frog has been added to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s database of hate symbols.

Other logos cited as offensive by the ADL include the Swastika and the “Blood Drop Cross” of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

The anti-bigotry group said “racists and haters” had “taken a popular internet meme and twisted it”.

Pepe has recently been depicted as Adolf Hitler and a member of the white supremacist KKK.

Pepe made his debut in 2005 in artist Matt Furie’s “Boy’s Club” cartoons. Since then, pictures of the creature have spread through the online communities 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit, where users can post an image for others to comment on.

These are mostly used to express emotions or experiences, but some racist and anti-Semitic versions have spread virally on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Full article: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37493165