Anti-Defamation League: Pepe the Frog a ‘Hate Symbol’

The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday officially added the “Pepe the Frog” cartoon character to its database of “hate symbols.” In an official statement, the ADL said, “The Pepe the Frog character did not originally have racist or anti-Semitic connotations. Internet users appropriated the character and turned him into a meme, placing the frog in a variety of circumstances and saying many different things.” The organization continued: “[T]he use of racist and bigoted versions of Pepe memes seems to be increasing, not decreasing.” Attached to the ADL’s press release were several examples of anti-Semitic uses of the Pepe meme, including one in which the frog dons a Hitler mustache and says, “Kill Jews, man.”