Denton School Official Ousted For Children's Book Using White Supremacist Symbol

DENTON, TX — A cartoon frog has somehow ingrained itself into the deepest and darkest recesses of American politics — and that frog's name is Pepe, who has long been co-opted by white supremacists for use in racist memes.

Pepe's reaches have even extended into the Denton school district outside Dallas and cost one school administrator his job.

The Texas school district removed an assistant principal from his post after he authored a children's book that used the white supremacist symbol as its central character. The district said in a statement Monday that the publicity generated by Eric Hauser's work has become a "distraction." (For more local stories, subscribe to the Dallas Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Hauser is being reassigned to an undetermined post.

This summer Hauser self-published "The Adventures of Pepe and Pede," about a frog and centipede seeking "truth and honesty" against "deceitful forces."

In the district's statement, Hauser apologized for the negative attention brought to colleagues.

Pepe the Frog appeared more than a decade ago in an online cartoon and the Anti-Defamation League says the character has been appropriated by white supremacists and other racists in online memes.

Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue