The evolution of the Pepe the Frog meme

From laidback comic book character to alt-right villain and more, the Pepe the Frog meme is emblematic of the relationship between politics and online culture.

The World Today Published 29 March 2023 Updated 3 June 2025 1 minute READ

The evolution of the Pepe the Frog meme provides a case study of how online meme culture can appropriate non-political imagery, codify it and redeploy it, sometimes for extreme political purposes. American artist Matt Furie created Pepe the Frog, with his catchphrase ‘Feels good man’, for his comic series Boy’s Club in 2005.

The laidback character was quickly adapted as a meme on internet forums such as 4chan and Reddit. By 2014 and 2015 politicized Pepe memes began appearing against Furie’s wishes, notably from the emerging ‘alt-right’. Late in 2015, Donald Trump retweeted a caricature of himself as Pepe at a US presidential lectern.

A stream of racist and anti-semitic Pepe renderings led to the meme being added to the Anti-Defamation League’s database of hate symbols in 2016. Three years later, democracy activists in Hong Kong began using images of Pepe in protests.

In their book, Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America, the authors Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfuss and Brian Friedberg chart how democracy disrupters and conspiracy theorists use memes such as Pepe the Frog as weapons of mass disinformation. Donovan charted this timeline of his evolution from comic strip good guy to Covid anti-vaxxer.

2005: Pepe the Frog

The original Pepe the Frog character from 2005 is the head of a smiling frog
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The original Pepe the Frog from Matt Furie’s Boys Club comic in 2005 was known for the catchphrase “Feels good man”.

2012: Sad Pepe

Pepe the Frog looks sad
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On internet forums such as 4chan and Reddit, users quickly took to creating their own memes of Pepe the Frog.

 2014: Smug Pepe

Pepe the Frog looks smug

 2014: Rage Pepe

A distorted Pepe the Frog with a red tint and an angry face

2014 & 2015: Nazi Pepe

Pepe the Frog wearing a Nazi uniform
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Around a decade ago, images of Pepe in various right-wing and extreme-right guises began proliferating.

Pepe the Frog wears a balaclava and Swastika armband while holding an automatic weapon and standing among nooses

 2015: Donald Trump as Pepe

Pepe the Frog as Donald Trump by a US border fence

2017: Pepe and the alt-right

An alt-right demonstrator holds up a sign with Pepe the Frog and the saying 'Deplorables and alt-right unite'
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In becoming a symbol of the alt-right, Pepe also appeared offline, as shown by this image from a pro-Trump protest. Photo: Fibonacci Blue under CC License

2017: Groyper and Kekistan

A spin-off of Pepe the Frog, Groyper, wears a black mask and holds lighter in front of a flag for the imaginary Kekistan
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Groyper, a spin-off from Pepe, and the flag of the imaginary Kekistan have become white nationalist symbols.

2019: QAnon Pepe

Pepe the Frog flying in the sky, dressed in a superhero outfit with a Q on his chest

2020: Hong Kong Pepe

Protestors in Hong Kong wear large Pepe the Frog masks that cover their whole heads
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Democracy activists in Hong Kong adopted Pepe for its cartoon appeal. Photo: Etan Liam under CC License

2020: Covid-19 Pepe

Pepe the Frog on a poster on a lampost advertising false cures for Covid
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Pepe being used to publicize the discredited use of hydroxychloroquine for treating the Covid virus. Photo: via Twitter @michael08930353