RantCrush Top 5: May 9, 2017

The online meme Pepe the Frog has been “killed off” by his creator in an attempt to stem the frog’s use as a hate symbol. Cartoonist Matt Furie created Pepe as a fun cartoon, but he was soon hijacked by far-right groups to promote racism and hate speech–he has been depicted as Adolf Hitler, a Ku Klux Klan member, and other symbols of hate.

Last September, the Anti-Defamation League included Pepe on its list of hate symbols. The battle of deciding what Pepe actually stands for has been ongoing for a while, but culminated during last year’s election when many alt-right groups started using him as a symbol for voting for Trump. Furie tried to reclaim his creation, but couldn’t, and killed him in a new cartoon released over the weekend. But the question is what effect this will have, as it’s pretty much impossible to actually kill the spread of an online meme.

The creator of Pepe The Frog has killed the character https://t.co/T6KhcBI4FA pic.twitter.com/mYOpUFCZsi

— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) May 8, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.