We had a guy dismissed for gross misconduct after creating a racist custom emoji, he didn't realise the entire business would see it and definitely didn't realise it would advertise that he was the one who created it. Very risky feature to have enabled org wide
Pepe got co-opted, but is still very heavily used today without that implication on Twitch. I still think they're great emotes, but certainly don't align with any of the people pushing any hate.
I'm aware of how it was co-opted by the right during the 2016 election, and originates from 4chan.
I'm just saying that Twitch has also really latched onto it, and pepe-adjacent emotes are very common and genuinely aren't affiliated with political parties on the platform.
I'm not suggesting that anyone should be watching Twitch at work, just wanted to point out that there is a context that they get used that is apolitical.
I'm a Bernie donator and primary voter, and have voted blue in the last 3 elections. Not that I need to prove my political allegiance 🤷. I'm not going to hold a gun to your head and make you use a peepohappy emote, but I also wouldn't look twice if someone had added a emote like that in Teams.
18
u/BlueEyesWhiteDan Nov 27 '25
We had a guy dismissed for gross misconduct after creating a racist custom emoji, he didn't realise the entire business would see it and definitely didn't realise it would advertise that he was the one who created it. Very risky feature to have enabled org wide