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Pepe the Frog, a comic character used in internet memes, has been designed a "hate symbol" by the Anti-Defamation League.
In its post identifying Pepe the Frog as a hate symbol, the Anti-Defamation League said that the meme is "used by haters on social media to suggest racist, anti-Semitic or other bigoted notions." The group's Hate on Display database was created in 2000.
The Anti-Defamation League mentioned in its post that Pepe the Frog didn't start out as a hate symbol. However, it claims that its use on forums such as 4chan, 8chan and Reddit have resulted in it being used for anti-Semitic memes.
"Once again, racists and haters have taken a popular Internet meme and twisted it for their own purposes of spreading bigotry and harassing users," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement . "These anti-Semites have no shame. They are abusing the image of a cartoon character, one that might at first seem appealing, to harass and spread hatred on social media."
According to Know Your Meme , Pepe the Frog was created in 2005 by Matt Furie for his comic Boy's Club . It wasn't until 2008 that the character started to be used in memes on sites like 4Chan. Claims that the character was being used for anti-Semitic memes started in May of this year.
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