The creator of Pepe the Frog is tired of his character being used for alt-right memes and pro-Trump propaganda.
After cartoonist Matt Furie first drew the frog in his 2015 Boy's Club #1 comic, the character became a popular internet meme. At first, it was fairly harmless, but Pepe was co-opted by members of the alt-right during the 2016 election and used in a series of racist memes. The character has since been attached to messages of hate and frequently used in pro-Trump propaganda.
One recent example of this appropriation is a poster from conspiracy theorist website InfoWars that depicts Pepe The Frog along with InfoWars host Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, and other notable right-wing figures. The artwork is labeled with the letters "MAGA," short for Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
Furie is suing InfoWars for copyright infringement and argues that the poster promotes "a message of hate." In a California federal court lawsuit, Furie is asking for InfoWars to remove the poster and is seeking a permanent injunction against the site from using Pepe again.
Upset with what's happened to his character, Furie's lawyers state in the lawsuit, "At his creation, Pepe was a 'peaceful frog dude.'" Later, they add, "The association of Pepe with symbols of hate and with the alt-right movement has been a nightmare for Furie."
Furie's attorney Louis Tompros says they hope InfoWars removes the poster from their store voluntarily instead of entering a drawn-out lawsuit. "Our goal is to make sure no one feels like they can associate Pepe with images of hate and think they’ll profit from that," Tompros said. "That’s what we’re trying to stop. Ideally, it would stop right away."
