About

Borpa is a BetterTTV extension custom Twitch emote based on a variation of Pepe the Frog. Named and popularized by users on Twitch streamer MOONMOON's Discord, the emote gained viral popularity in early May 2021.

Origin

On February 3rd, 2019, Discord^[7] user Peon Pepe (Abolik#7737) posted poorly-drawn version of Pepe in Badly Drawn Pepe Bazaar & Gala Discord server. On February 29th, Peon Pepe^[8] added a custom emote based on the drawing, naming it FeelsLookLeftMan, a play on Feels Bad Man.

The emote did not achieve notable spread until March 13th, 2021, when Discord^[1] user Brad posted the original Borpa image streamer MOONMOON's subscriber-only Discord server (shown belowt). On the same day, Discord user swag cat replied to the message by typing "borpa," likely referencing similarly-looking Booba meme, with the name becoming associated with the emote.

On the same day, custom Twitch emote service BetterTTV^[2] user TRAVISMANAU added the emote to the extension, with FrankerFaceZ^[3] user Merfasoo adding the emote on March 16th. In the following six weeks, MOONMOON, NymN and over 600 other Twitch channels enabled the emote.

Spread

In the following weeks, several BetterTTV users added variations of the emote, including borpaSpin by Laden,^[4] added on March 19th and used in over 420 sets (shown below, left), borpaClean by AresGMV,^[5] added on March 27th and used in 42 sets (shown below, center), and borpaJAM by MadsDogie,^[6] added on April 2nd and used in 35 sets (shown below, right).

On May 4th, 2021, YouTuber^[1] Syrmaa posted a video exploring the origins of the emote, discovering the first instance of it being posted on MOONMOON's Discord server (shown below).

In the interview with Syrmaa, Discord user swag cat replied that he named the emote "borpa" due to it looking like a "squished, messed-up" version of the Booba reaction image.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References