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Philadelphia New Years Event Protesting COVID19 Shutdown Contains Antisemitic Imagery

A popular Facebook listing promoting a “Mummers” protest on New Year’s Day is peddling antisemitic, racist imagery, raising questions about the organizers and their intentions for the event.

The images are the cover photo of the event page titled “Mummers/New Year’s Day Peaceful Protest Against Mayor Kenney.” Although the official Mummers Parade is canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the listing’s organizers are calling on people to protest on Second Street in South Philadelphia on Jan. 1.

The doctored image shows Mayor Jim Kenney wearing white and red face makeup while holding a frog umbrella, the latter of which is potentially a reference to the antisemitic ‘Pepe the Frog’ cartoon.

In the image, Kenney is surrounded by what appear to be Mummers marching in costumes holding Jewish Stars of David on South Broad Street.

Mummers leadership has distanced itself from any Mummers protest and backed the Kenney administration’s ban on large-scale events due to the pandemic.

It remains unclear who the organizers of the protest march are. The two Facebook users who created the listing, Smelt Dank Memes and Kenney Was A Mummer Once, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The protest is billing itself as a First Amendment demonstration against Kenney’s “erroneous taxes and restrictions on our freedoms and liberties,” according to the listing, which has been up since July. More than 11,100 people have responded to the listing, including 2,800 who said they would go.