On May 6, 2017, during Free Comic Book Day, Matt Furie, the original creator of Pepe the Frog, decided to end the character’s story after it was misappropriated as a hate symbol, far from its light-hearted and positive origins. But Furie’s connection to Pepe didn’t stop there. In 2019, at the “Tuff Crowd” art exhibition, he introduced a new creation titled “Pepe by Matt Furie,” designed to reclaim the character’s true spirit and replace the original green Pepe with a symbol of creativity and freedom.