Pepe the Frog

Pepe the Frog is an Internet meme and cartoon character created by American artist Matt Furie for his 2005 webcomic Boys Club.

Pepe the Frog is an Internet meme and cartoon character created by American artist Matt Furie for his 2005 webcomic Boys Club. The green anthropomorphic frog became widely shared online and later acquired multiple political and cultural meanings, including use by far-right groups and counter-movements.

Origin

Pepe the Frog was created by Matt Furie for the webcomic Boys Club and first appeared in 2005. The character was originally part of a non-political comic focused on relaxed, crude, and absurd humour.

Rise as a meme

The character became popular on internet forums and social platforms, where users adapted Pepe into many expressions and reaction images. Its spread helped make it one of the best-known memes of the 2010s.

Political appropriation

Some versions of Pepe were adopted by white supremacist, antisemitic, and other extremist groups, leading to controversy. The Anti-Defamation League added Pepe to its hate-symbol database in 2016, while other groups later tried to reclaim or reframe the image.

Cultural significance

Pepe has been discussed as an example of how internet culture can transform a neutral image into a symbol with multiple, conflicting meanings. The character remains widely recognized in online culture and media coverage.