• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload URLHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Memed Into the Public Domain? The Battle for Pepe the Frog.

Views:1091
@ReasonVids

A legal fight involving the alt-right, Trump voters, one of Washington, D.C.’s most powerful law firms, and the website 4chan is brewing.

----

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

Is Pepe the Frog a symbol of free speech or artwork hijacked by racist hate groups? Pepe, as he's known, has been labeled a Nazi, condemned by a presidential candidate, and now is at the center of an important legal battle over the First Amendment in this era of unlimited replication, imitation, and mutation. It's a fight that involves the alt-right, Trump voters, one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful law firms, and the website 4chan, aka, the "asshole of the internet."

Pepe the Frog is the creation of a 38-year-old cartoonist from Ohio named Matt Furie, who declined to be interviewed for this story. The anthropomorphic frog first appeared twelve years ago in Furie's webcomic Boy's Club. In the series' most famous sequence, Pepe is caugh tstanding at a toilet with his pants around his ankles. As he later explains, "Feels good man."

It wasn't until a few years later, when someone posted the "feels good man" image to the anonymous online image board 4chan, that Pepe became a global phenomenon. The "feels bad man" and "sad frog" versions of Pepe emerged, and the meme spread from there.

Pepe entered the mainstream as celebrities like Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj posted his image to their social media. Matt Furie told the Daily Dot in 2015 that he supported the "anonymous people on the internet" who had turned his creation into an unstoppable meme, even going so far as to voice support for "people's decisions to profit off of Pepe."

But that was before Pepe became something else entirely.

Intellectual Property attorney Louis Tompros says Matt Furie contacted his firm WilmerHale after Pepe appeared in what he describes as an Islamophobic children's book in which Pepe does battle with a bearded alligator and what appear to be his burqa-clad minions. That was just the beginning.

Pepe's most recent evolution into a right-wing symbol most likely started on 4chan's /pol/ page, a board devoted to facilitating "politically incorrect" conversation that became a haven for Donald Trump supporters in 2016. Images of Pepe wearing red MAGA hats proliferated, and Donald Trump, Jr. even posted an image that included a Trumpified version of Pepe to social media.

The Clinton campaign responded by branding Pepe a "symbol associated with White Supremacy." The Anti-Defamation League lists the frog as a hate symbol.

Furie and his legal team began sending Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices to people they believed were using Pepe to "promote hate."

One recipient of a WilmerHale takedown notice was Mike Cernovich, a popular writer and vocal Trump supporter who describes himself as part of the "New Right."

"We're not alt-right, and we're not old school, National Review, boring right. We're aggressive," says Cernovich. "We're in a meme world. We're in a world where you have to be catchy, punchy... That's how you actually are persuading people to accept your ideas as true."

Watch the documentary on this case above.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Graphics by Brett Raney.

Music by Elvis Herod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license Artist: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/elvisherod

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
mike cernovich
,
pepe the frog
,
memes
,
meme magic
,
alt right
,
trump
,
matt furie
,
racism
,
hate speech
,
free speech
,
copyright
,
fair use
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Deceitful Bias in The New York Times3:54
    Stossel: Deceitful Bias in The New York Times
    ReasonVids
    1026 views
    Thumbnail for Terry Davis: "Why are we making the kids learn this gay faggot shit?"0:28
    Terry Davis: "Why are we making the kids learn this gay faggot shit?"
    bestofvoatxyz
    4611 views
    Thumbnail for The Japanese find out that their traditional demons are based off of jews6:09
    The Japanese find out that their traditional demons are based off of jews
    bestofvoatxyz
    5460 views
    Thumbnail for Forgive Them0:45
    Forgive Them
    birdsbelieve
    1040 views
    Thumbnail for Comedy is dead1:03
    Comedy is dead
    bestofvoatxyz
    807 views
    Thumbnail for Clam Digga0:11
    Clam Digga
    bestofpoal
    2364 views
    Thumbnail for City Officials Threw an Elderly Woman in Jail for Criticizing Them—Then Claimed Immunity35:10
    City Officials Threw an Elderly Woman in Jail for Criticizing Them—Then Claimed Immunity
    IJvids
    1041 views
    Thumbnail for PORTLAND, OREGON:  Far-left extremist university professor physically assaults flag-waving Proud Boys, gets pinned down by Proud Girl.1:53
    PORTLAND, OREGON: Far-left extremist university professor physically assaults flag-waving Proud Boys, gets pinned down by Proud Girl.
    AOU
    16401 views
    Thumbnail for Do NOT Google search "Alex" right now. | Phoenix SC3:07
    Do NOT Google search "Alex" right now. | Phoenix SC
    invidious
    401 views
    Thumbnail for Great job, everyone 0:13
    Great job, everyone
    bestofupgoat
    168 views
    Thumbnail for Info about the ATF dawn home raid that killed the Clinton airport administrator Malinowski.9:47
    Info about the ATF dawn home raid that killed the Clinton airport administrator Malinowski.
    bestofupgoat
    527 views
    Thumbnail for Male Feminists Totally Get Laid More | Ride and Roast27:43
    Male Feminists Totally Get Laid More | Ride and Roast
    Terrence Popp
    1578 views
    Thumbnail for Freedom | Best Damn Roofer2:40
    Freedom | Best Damn Roofer
    invidious
    362 views
    Thumbnail for Chicago man points gun at news crew in broad daylight during live shot about rising crime0:49
    Chicago man points gun at news crew in broad daylight during live shot about rising crime
    bestofvoatxyz
    811 views
    Thumbnail for Who will be the next pope? | Yahoo News0:40
    Who will be the next pope? | Yahoo News
    invidious
    173 views
    Thumbnail for NYPD to Innocent Business Owners: Give Up Your Rights or Get Shut Down2:45
    NYPD to Innocent Business Owners: Give Up Your Rights or Get Shut Down
    IJvids
    957 views
    Thumbnail for Treat Wood Yourself - How to Treat Wood Against Rot | Great Plains Craftsman14:50
    Treat Wood Yourself - How to Treat Wood Against Rot | Great Plains Craftsman
    invidious
    395 views
    Thumbnail for nukenard.mp40:13
    nukenard.mp4
    Queuenard
    220 views
    Thumbnail for how to impress 100 girls in only 5 seconds | Sweeneytv0:14
    how to impress 100 girls in only 5 seconds | Sweeneytv
    invidious
    537 views
    Thumbnail for Dutch politician Willie Dille quits after threats1:57
    Dutch politician Willie Dille quits after threats
    BelleAriel
    3155 views
    Thumbnail for If a Scientologist can say this word, they win $10,000 | Reckless Ben14:45
    If a Scientologist can say this word, they win $10,000 | Reckless Ben
    invidious
    529 views
    Thumbnail for Speaking with normie scum at work is exhausting 0:05
    Speaking with normie scum at work is exhausting
    bestofupgoat
    467 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
mike cernovich
,
pepe the frog
,
memes
,
meme magic
,
alt right
,
trump
,
matt furie
,
racism
,
hate speech
,
free speech
,
copyright
,
fair use
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle