The first annual Streamer Awards premiered on Twitch last Saturday to an audience of over 350,000 viewers. Planned and organized by variety streamer QTCinderella, the show honored streamers from a diverse range of Twitch categories. The categories for each award included best MMO streamer, best speedrunner, best streamed event, and more. While the reception to the event has been positive, especially within the Twitch community, there are some who were confused by the award show's trophies.

Every great award show has its own iconic trophy. The Oscars, for example, give out trophies with a silhouette of an Art Deco knight holding the hilt of a sword. For The Streamer Awards, QTCinderella and other organizers settled on handing out statues of a rather notorious Internet figure: Pepe the Frog. It's not clear whether the likeness was supposed to be Pepe or his cuter derivative, Peepo, but the resemblance was enough for some viewers to voice their dissatisfaction.

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Pepe's Controversial History

Pepe and Landwolf, two characters from the online comic Boys Club, sit on the floor and play video games together.

Pepe the frog was originally created by Matt Furie for a 2005 comic called Boy's Club, and his status as an early Internet meme was generally unproblematic. Yet to many who first learned about the frog via mainstream news outlets, Pepe symbolizes deeply controversial and hateful right-wing political views. It started around the end of 2015 when Pepe's likeness was incorporated into various racist depictions. This trend's circulation continued into 2016 and increased during the U.S. Presidential race. Ultimately, the Anti-Defamation League added Pepe to its Hate Symbol Database, where it remains to this day.

However, this bleak history is in stark contrast to much of Pepe's usage today. A large number of emotes used on Twitch contain Pepe or his cutesy counterpart, Peepo. Twitch bans emotes whenever they appear to be inappropriate, but the frogs have been allowed to stay on the platform. Pepe and Peepo appear in many different poses, expressions, and situations, most of which are not intended to be politicized. Pepe's reputation has changed so greatly that the Anti-Defamation League has at least updated its entry in the Hate Symbol Database to state that the "majority of uses of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted."

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Pepe at the Streamer Awards

streamer of the year at the streamer awards 2021

It makes sense that there's confusion surrounding Pepe's inclusion at The Streamer Awards. On the one hand, Pepe has become synonymous, for many, with alt-right groups and hateful ideologies. On the other hand, Pepe is an emote staple on Twitch, and an adorable mascot for the streaming site. It cannot be said with certainty whether the statue is even supposed to be Pepe or Peepo, as the latter is generally regarded as a less complicated figure. Regardless, voices from both sides of the argument have posited their opinions on Twitter and other social media sites.

Ultimately, The Streamer Awards were a success. Quantifiably, hundreds of thousands of people watched live, and a large part of the feedback online has been positive. This was the first of what is presumed to become an annual event, so there is plenty of room for changes in the future. Most, if not all of those changes will come down to the decisions of QTCinderella and the other organizers. It remains to be seen whether Pepe will be present at next year's show or not.

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