Origin: 2005 comic by Matt Furie called Boy's Club

Pepe the Frog is an internet meme that originated in a 2005 comic by Matt Furie. The green anthropomorphic frog quickly became popular on Myspace, Gaia Online, and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, Pepe was one of the most popular memes on 4chan and Tumblr. There are many different types of Pepes, including Sad Frog, Smug Frog, Angry Pepe, Feels Frog, and You will never... Frog. Since 2014, 'rare Pepes' have been traded on the 'meme market' as if they were trading cards. Originally an apolitical character, Pepe was appropriated by the alt-right movement from 2015 to 2016. The Anti-Defamation League included Pepe in its hate symbol database in 2016, but said most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context. In 2019, Pepe was used by protesters in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Despite being used in a political context, Pepe the Frog's use in Hong Kong is not perceived as being connected with alt-right ideology.