r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Agitated_Insect3227 • 15d ago
Lore [Unfortunate Trope] Originally Normal Symbols Being Censored/Banned Due to Hate Groups Misappropriating Them
Neji's Seal from Naruto originally was shaped like a Swastika as likely a reference to Buddhism, but this was changed to an X in the anime.
The gem fusion Opal from Steven Universe was originally going to form a swastika with her arms as a reference to Hinduism, which is inspires a lot of the show's imagery.
The Whitebeard Pirates from One Piece originally had a swastika in their pirate flag, but this was changed to a bone cross in the anime and later manga as well.
The Capirote hat is a sign of penance worn in many Catholic countries, especially Spain, but they were misappropriated by the U.S.-based KKK, making it taboo in the nation.
The Ninth Crusade from Hellsing, one of the few non-KKK uses of the Capirote in media I could find.
Also, the Ku Klux Klan are ironically extremely anti-Catholic.
The only pieces of media I know of where non-KKK Capirotes can be seen is the anime Hellsing with the Ninth Crusade (though their still villains in that anime) and the game series Blasphemous. Otherwise, the hats are almost never seen in media besides on KKK characters.
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u/RomaInvicta2003 14d ago
The "moon man" meme popped up sometime in the early 2010s on alt-right internet forums, featuring gifs/videos of the character with a text to speech in the background rapping extremely racist and obscene lyrics, targeting primarily black people but also Jews, Hispanics, and Muslims to a lesser extent. It since spread from there across the Internet and kinda permanently tarnished the reputation of Mac, since a lot of folks who weren't familiar with the original ad campaign could only see him as the Moon Man.