Hong Kong
In 2019 Pepe appeared across the Hong Kong protests, on placards, stickers, Lennon Walls and painted faces, carrying no far-right meaning whatsoever. Most protesters knew him simply as a sad or defiant cartoon frog. The same drawing that had been declared a hate symbol in the United States was being used as an emblem of resistance on the other side of the world, which is the clearest evidence that a meme means whatever its users are doing with it.
Part of Pepe
12 moments in this segment.
- - TRT World on Pepe in the Hong Kong protests. A broadcast report on protesters in Hong Kong adopting Pepe for posters, stickers and banners during the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations. The report notes that the character carried little of the political meaning attached to it in the United States for the people using it there.
- - Pepe as a Hong Kong protest icon. The South China Morning Post reports on the character's use in the 2019 protests, where it served both as an outlet for frustration with Beijing and as comic relief. The piece is explicit about the gap between that use and the meme's reputation in the West.
- - Pepe masks on the 8 December march. Footage shot on the 8 December 2019 march in Hong Kong showing demonstrators wearing Pepe masks alongside the pig mascot of LIHKG, the forum used to coordinate the protests. It is contemporaneous record rather than commentary, and shows the scale at which the character was being carried in the street.
- - Pepe graffiti on Hong Kong Island, 31 August 2019. Graffiti of Pepe the Frog photographed during the 31 August 2019 demonstration against the extradition bill on Hong Kong Island. In Hong Kong the character was used as a sympathetic protest mascot and carried none of the far-right associations attached to it in the United States.
- - Pepe in protest artwork, 15 September 2019. Pepe the Frog appears in artwork at the anti-extradition bill protest in Hong Kong on 15 September 2019.
- - Pepe graffiti with a liberty slogan, 6 October 2019. Street graffiti photographed in Hong Kong on 6 October 2019 pairs Pepe the Frog with the slogan 'Give me liberty, or give me death'.
- - Marchers in Pepe masks, 8 December 2019. Demonstrators wear Pepe the Frog masks during the 8 December 2019 march against the extradition bill in Hong Kong. Masks of the character were a recurring sight across the movement.
- - Crying Pepe mask on Human Rights Day, 8 December 2019. A protester wears a crying Pepe the Frog mask during the 8 December 2019 march in Hong Kong.
- - Pepe plush among seated protesters, 3 January 2020. Protesters sit during the 3 January 2020 demonstration in Hong Kong with a Pepe the Frog plush toy among them.
- - Pepe plush in a Santa suit, 12 January 2020. A Pepe the Frog plush toy dressed as Santa Claus, photographed at the 12 January 2020 demonstration in Hong Kong.
- - Pepe plush at a Hong Kong food stand. A Pepe the Frog plush toy sits at a street food stand in Hong Kong in January 2020. The file's capture time reads 26 January; Commons files the image under the demonstration of 27 January 2020.
- - Pepe beside a QR code, 1 May 2020. Pepe the Frog appears in street artwork alongside a QR code, photographed at the 1 May 2020 demonstration in Hong Kong.
