Author of Pepe the Frog Kid’s Book Must Give Profits to CAIR as Mea Culpa for ‘Islamaphobic’ Content

The author of “The Adventures of Pepe and Pede” has ceased publishing after admitting he infringed on the copyright of Pepe the Frog author Matt Furie.

Moreover, the author, Eric Hauser, is being forced to pay all proceeds from his book sales to the Council on American Islamic Relations — a sort of penance for what the Muslim advocacy group said was the book’s “Islamaphobic” content.

Hauser, a former assistant principal at a Texas middle school, said he didn’t know when he wrote “The Adventures of Pepe and Pede” that the title was a well-used reference by the alt-right. He said he was only trying to pen a book for conservative families — not start a political fire.

But he lost his job over the tome. And now, he’s lost his ability to publish the book.

The Verge has more:

The Adventures of Pepe and Pede, a children’s book based around thinly veiled alt-right themes, will cease publication at the behest of Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie. Motherboard reports that Furie has reached a settlement with the author of the book, who admitted to copyright infringment of Furie’s creation. Not only will the settlement prevent additional sales of the book, but all profits must be donated to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim-American advocacy group.

Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that Eric Hauser, an assistant principal at a Texas middle school, penned a book based around alt-right themes. The book’s title is a reference to the co-opted cartoon frog and “centipedes”: a nickname made popular by Trump’s fanbase on Reddit. The book follows the duo in “Wishington Farm” as they try to defeat an alligator with “buds from an honesty tree.”

According to Motherboard, the settlement is Furie’s attempt to “aggressively enforce his intellectual property, using legal action if necessary, to end the misappropriation of Pepe the Frog in any way that espouses racism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Nazism, or any other form of hate.” The move to send CAIR the book’s profits — which made a mere $1,521.54 — is part of Furie’s effort to ensure that no one profits off the meme for alt-right propaganda.

Last year, the Anti-Defamation League added the meme frog to its database of hate symbols. While Furie was initially optimistic that Pepe’s pro-Trump bent would die off, he began campaigning to rehabilitate the frog into a more positive figure. Eventually, Furie killed off the character himself in a comic.