Graffiti of Pepe the Frog in Hong Kong. Photo / Twitter
Graffiti of Pepe the Frog in Hong Kong. Photo / Twitter
To much of the world, the cartoon frog is a hate symbol. To Hong Kong protesters, he's something entirely different: one of them.
Ask the Anti-Defamation League, and it will tell you Pepe the Frog is a hate symbol, a cheerleader of racism and anti-Semitism, a friend of alt-right extremists.The sad, green frog is widely viewed as toxic across the world, a signal of a sinister and dangerous worldview.
So it can be a bit jarring to see Pepe in his new role: a pro-democracy freedom fighter in the Hong Kong protests, siding with the people in their struggle against an authoritarian state. The protesters here hold signs with his image, use stickers of him in messaging apps and discussion forums, and even spray paint his face on walls.
Does that mean that Hong Kong protesters are alt-right, or that they support the racism he represents?
The question confuses many protesters, many of whom had no idea about the symbol's racist connotations in the rest of the world. They just like him.
"It has nothing to do with the far-right ideology in the state," one person wrote on LIHKG, an anonymous forum that has been the center of discussion for protesters. "It just looks funny and captures the hearts of so many youngsters. It is a symbol of youth participation in this movement."
Mari Law, a 33-year-old protester, knows how Pepe is perceived elsewhere, but said it did not matter because Pepe did not carry the same toxic reputation in Hong Kong. Most of the protesters don't know about the alt-right association, he said.
"To me, Pepe is just a Hello Kitty-like character," he said.
Few Hong Kongers have shown awareness online about Pepe's sinister side. There has been little discussion about what symbolism he carries, and in the few occasions it has been pointed out, it has mostly been met with a shrug.
To Hong Kongers, he is just one of them. A sticker pack for messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp depict Pepe wearing the protesters' signature yellow helmet, surrounded by tear gas or holding anti-government signs. He has also been transformed into a first-aid worker and a journalist holding an iPhone.
Emily Yueng, 20, said she had no idea about Pepe's chequered past. After she learned, she wondered if maybe she and other protesters ought to stop handing out posters with his image at the airport.
"But still, different countries have very different cultures," she said. "Symbols and colors that mean something in one culture can mean something completely different in another culture, so I think if Americans are really offended by this, we should explain to them what it means to us."
Pepe was not always seen as a racist symbol. He was created more than a decade ago by Matt Furie, who killed off the character in 2017 after it was adopted by the alt-right.
Demonstrators fill a multilane main road during a march in the Causeway Bay shopping district of Hong Kong. Photo / Lam Yik Fei, The New York Times
Members of the alt-right on forums like 4chan and certain corners of Reddit had appropriated his image, much to Furie's dismay. He said the frog, perpetually stoned, was meant to be positive, and denounced any link to racist or fringe groups.
"It's completely insane that Pepe has been labelled a symbol of hate, and that racists and anti-Semites are using a once peaceful frog-dude from my comic book as an icon of hate," he said in 2016, when the Anti-Defamation League added Pepe to its list of hate symbols.
He added in a 2016 essay for Time magazine: "I understand that it's out of my control, but in the end, Pepe is whatever you say he is, and I, the creator, say that Pepe is love."
In Hong Kong, Pepe was never transformed from the chill frog-dude Furie intended him to be. Law said he thought Pepe would protest alongside Hong Kongers: Pepe is sad just like them.
"I think we can redefine Pepe in this movement," he said.
