$PEPE Matt Furie created Pepe the Frog in his 2005 comic series The Boy’s Club. Pepe was depicted as an easygoing character, and in one comic, he is shown urinating with his pants down, saying, “Feels good man.” Furie explained to The Daily Dot in April 2015 that the name Pepe evokes "pee-pee," fitting the comic's bathroom humor.

In 2008, Pepe memes began appearing on 4chan, with users creating their own versions of Pepe's signature smile. Popular variants included Smug Pepe, Sad Pepe, and Angry Pepe. These memes spread online as humorous reactions, similar to GIFs. By 2014–15, Pepe had become mainstream, with celebrities like Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj sharing Pepe memes on social media.

However, in 2015, white supremacists began co-opting Pepe, creating anti-Semitic and racist versions to deter its widespread use. One version showed a caricatured Jewish Pepe smiling at the burning Twin Towers, while another altered Pepe's “Feels good man” catchphrase to “Kill all Jews.” Alt-right supporters of Donald Trump embraced these bigoted memes, sharing images of a suited-up Pepe resembling Trump. Trump himself retweeted a Trump Pepe in October 2015, and his son Donald Trump Jr. shared one in September 2016 after Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment. Alt-right social media users began using the frog emoji in their usernames to signify their political affiliations, and a hand gesture resembling the OK sign was used as a symbol.

In September 2016, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) labeled Pepe the Frog a hate symbol. Around this time, the Clinton campaign released an explainer on Pepe, noting that the "cartoon frog is more sinister than you might realize." Pepe's political use extended beyond the U.S., with depictions of French far-right politician Marine Le Pen as Pepe Le Pen.

Despite starting as a harmless cartoon character, Pepe the Frog became a symbol associated with hate and bigotry, showing how internet culture can transform and weaponize seemingly innocuous symbols.

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