Pepe the Frog creator fights far-right by donating book profits to Muslim-American advocacy
The books espoused 'racist, Islamophobic and hate-filled themes'
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Your support makes all the difference.All profits from The Adventures of Pepe and Pede — a children’s book concerning the popular white supremacist symbol Pepe the Frog — will go towards a Muslim-American advocacy group.
The illustrator behind the meme, Matt Furie, won a legal battle against the book’s creator, a Texan assistant principle named Eric Hauser, who admitted copyright infringement, according to Motherboard (via Verge).
According to The Washington Post, The Adventures of Pepe and Pede attempts to concern itself with the universal themes of friendship, teamwork, and honesty.
However, Hauser's book contains utterly worrying messages that Furie described as espousing "racist, Islamophobic and hate-filled themes.”
The 'adventure' takes place on a farm called Wishington, the antagonist a bearded alligator named Alkah. There’s also Covfefe cliff and the main character’s friend is a centipede (centipedes being a nickname given to Trump’s reddit fanbase).
Most obvious, though, is the main character; a smiling frog named Pepe. The cartoon frog — as anyone who looks at Donald Trump’s Twitter mentions can tell you — has become a popular white nationalist symbol, even featuring on the Anti-Defamation League’s database of hate symbols.
Thanks to the legal victory, no further copies of The Adventures of Pepe and Pede may be sold and the $1,521.54 profit made must be donated to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Furie has been vocally disproving of the character’s appropriation, previously saying: “It’s a nightmare, and the only thing I can do is see this as an opportunity to speak out against hate.”
Pepe the Frog first appeared in the comic Boy’s Club back in 2005, illustrated by Furie. Earlier this year, Furie released a one-page special comic for Free Comic Book Day where Pepe was killed off.
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