Pepe the Frog creator sues InfoWars for copyright infringement

The man who created the Pepe the Frog character is suing InfoWars for copyright infringement after the website used the character in a poster with InfoWars founder Alex Jones, President Trump and other conservative figures.

Matt Furie, who created Pepe, is claiming that InfoWars used an image of the character without his permission, citing the poster in his complaint, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Other figures featured on the poster include prominent conservative commentators Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge. “MAGA,” an acronym for Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” is also displayed on the poster.

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Pepe became a popular meme after its creation, but was then adopted by many so-called alt-right communities, Furie states in his complaint.

“But beginning in 2015, various fringe groups connected with the alt-right attempted to co-opt Pepe by mixing images of Pepe with images of hate, including white supremacist language and symbols, Nazi symbols, and other offensive imagery,” the lawsuit reads.

“Furie has worked hard to counteract that negative image of Pepe, including collaborating with the Anti-Defamation League on the #SavePepe campaign to restore Pepe as a character representing peace, togetherness, and fun,” it continues.

The poster in question is currently still available online at the InfoWars store.

Furie has sued over the use of the character before. He successfully stopped the distribution of a children’s book featuring Pepe and other politically controversial characters, like an alligator named “Alkah,” which many have interpreted to be Islamophobic. 

Furie also killed off the cartoon character last year.

The Anti-Defamation League labeled the cartoon character a “hate symbol” in 2016.