this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
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Pepe definitely became a mascot of the alt-right for a time
As far as I recall, the whole declaration that it was a hate symbol was pretty misinformed to begin with.
It was originally used by tons of people online, particularly by quite a lot of 4chan users. So it got mostly used for weird memes like ones about adult man children earning good boy points towards chicken tenders and being socially inept, and sometimes for weird alt-right bullshit.
Then during the horrid mess of GamerGate (which has direct ties to a handful of current rightwing grifters gaining popularity), at one point some rights advocacy group labelled it a hate symbol due to the association with GamerGate by way of 4chan. I mean sure, hateful movement, right? But they were using it like people use stick figures. In my opinion Pepe was more the medium than the message, and it wasn't so overwhelmingly used for hate like twitter/x that you could legitimately make the argument that it hands down was a dog whistle or only used by those who would tolerate the hateful views.
Then again, I was a heavy 4chan user many many years ago (dropped off during the scientology raids), so my point of view is probably skewed.
I get that for a while a lot of the internet stopped using it due to the negative associations and news articles citing the original claim by the advocacy group, but it makes me happy to see the awkward little frog being "reclaimed" for general use again.
I honestly think it's a perspective of age, I don't recall ever seeing it being dropped. Despite mostly being active in queer friendly areas of the internet.
But I recon age might have a factor, as everyone has seen Pepe used for all sorts of things before gamergate became a thing. Whilst communities based on younger individuals, might have taken other stances
Disagree, Pepe and Kekistan were intertwined with the alt-right for a hot minute and while it didn’t originate there it lingers.
It’s sick to see it being “taken back” but that doesn’t make my point less valid, it was a mascot for a hot minute.
I'm with prettybunnys, I remember these and 100s of ban evasion subs, they were NOT thinly veiled racism/antisemitism it was outright. r/frenworld r/clownworld r/honker r/clownworldwar