From Slashdot, May 08, 2017: "The creator of Pepe the Frog has symbolically killed off the cartoon frog,
effectively surrendering control of the character to the far right.
Matt Furie, an artist and children's book author, created the
now-infamous frog as part of his "Boy's Club" series on MySpace in 2005.
Pepe took on a life of its own online as a meme, before being
eventually adopted as a symbol by the "alt-right" in the lead-up to last
year's U.S. election. In September, Hillary Clinton identified Pepe the
Frog as a racist hate symbol, and Pepe was added to the Anti-Defamation League's database of hate symbols. Furie launched a campaign to "Save Pepe,"
flooding the internet with "peaceful or nice" depictions of the
character in a bid to shake its association with white supremacy and
antisemitism. But he now seems to have conceded defeat, killing the
character off in a one-page strip for the independent publisher
Fantagraphics' Free Comic Book Day. It showed Pepe laid to rest in an
open casket, being mourned by his fellow characters from Boy's Club."
The Guardian reports, "Furie had been attempting to wrench back his “peaceful frog-dude” – whom
he has often said he imagined as an extension of his personality – for
more than six months. Pepe’s passing has been interpreted of his ceding
control of the character."
RIP Pepe:
No comments:
Post a Comment