Capture the Flag: Pepe the Frog Style
How Online Users Couldn't Resist Trolling Shia LaBeouf's Resistance Performance Art Installation
You might know who Shia LaBeouf is from his role in the Transformers movies.
But what you might not know is that Shia LaBeouf was no fan of President Trump or his supporters.
So, on January 20, 2017, during Trump's inauguration, Shia LaBeouf created an anti-Trump performance art installation called He Will Not Divide Us (HWNDU) which would be broadcast online. It was a 24 hour livestream held at various locations around the world where a video camera filmed people as they showed their liberal outrage regarding Trump. These displays were then broadcasted in various museums around the world as art.
The directions are simple enough: “The public is invited to deliver the words “HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US” into a camera … repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.” And that’s what people do: A group of teens locks arms and jumps up and down yelling it, a singer passionately riffs in a solo with her back turned to it, it’s whispered in a low chant.
Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency. In this way, the mantra "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community.
So, how did this turn out? Well...
The online community from 4Chan found out about it and hilarity ensued.
People started showing up at the exhibit with Trump signs. They appeared on camera with signs of Pepe the Frog. They sang and played the song Shadilay. They wrote the word "KEK" on the museum wall.
Let's pause here and put a pin in it. I need to provide a little education before we continue with Shia LaBeouf and his story.
Pepe the Frog is a character that came from the comic series Boy's Club by Matt Furie. The main characters were Pepe the Frog, Brett (who I think is a bear), Andy the dog and Landwolf the wolf. In 2008, one of the comics had Pepe the Frog pulling down his pants to urinate. Users on 4Chan and the Something Awful forums stole the image and Pepe the Frog has gone viral ever since.
The song Shadilay comes from a 1986 Italo disco band named... P.E.P.E. The single's album artwork is a picture of a green frog holding a magic wand. The song itself is cheerfully awful in my personal opinion but in its awfulness it serves its purpose. The users of 4Chan certainly think so.
Shadilay, shadilay, my freedom
Shadilay, shadilay, oh no...
Shadilay, shadilay, oh dream or reality
Shadilay, shadilay, oh no...
"KEK" is another form for the acronym "LOL" or "Laugh Out Loud." It stems from the Korean language. The game Starcraft didn't support the Korean language. So Koreans improvised by typing "kekeke," which, when translated, means "hahaha." It's spread came from a submission in the Urban Dictionary in 2005. KEK was defined as "LOL in Orcish."
Okay. Now that we have some common understanding, let's circle back to Shia LaBeouf.
So, people started showing up with Trump signs, with Pepe the Frog signs, and to sing the song Shadilay. The word "KEK" was written on the museum wall behind participants to this performance art. What was Shia LaBeouf's reaction to all this?
He was livid.
So livid, in fact, that he aggressively and maniacally yelled "he will not divide us" in the face of a Trump supporter who was resisting Shia LaBeouf's resistance performance art... and ended up being arrested for it.
To be clear, he wasn't just arrested. Shia LaBeouf was arrested... on camera... during his livestream performance art installation... which was broadcast live to several museum's around the world. Yikes!
The Museum of the Moving Image wasn't so happy about the situation either. They also responded in kind. They shut down the He Will Not Divide Us installation and cited violent altercations that had occurred on-site. I wonder if they meant LaBeouf.
The participatory project was supposed to last four years, but the museum shut it down, telling ABC News it devolved into a "flashpoint for violence" that "created a serious and ongoing public safety hazard for the Museum, its visitors, staff, local residents, and businesses."
The site made headlines late last month when the "Transformers" actor was arrested for allegedly assaulting a passerby. He was charged with a misdemeanor and received a a desk appearance ticket for court at a later date.
Officials made mention of the incident, noting, "While the installation began constructively, it deteriorated markedly after one of the artists was arrested on the site of the installation and ultimately necessitated this action. Over the course of the installation, there have been dozens of threats of violence and numerous arrests, such that police felt compelled to be stationed outside the installation 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
ABC News: Museum Shuts Down Shia LaBeouf's Protest Project Over 'Safety Hazards'
Now, you might think this would have been the end of the He Will Not Divide Us performance art installation and Shia LaBeouf... but you would be wrong.
It got relocated.
On February 18, 2017, the performance art installation was moved outside the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was meant to create a safer space for resistance participants.
The next day, on February 19, one participant brandished a firearm while saying "F*** Trump and his supporters."
Then, the following day on February 20, the camera was spray painted over by a masked crusader... err... I meant vandal.
Someone's protesting Shia LaBeouf's protest by spray painting the camera trained on his "He will not divide us" demonstration.
A vandal approached the live stream camera -- set up by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner -- early Tuesday morning at around 4:20 and unloaded a canister of red spray paint. The vandal is wearing a mask or bandana to hide his identity.
The hijinks went down in Albuquerque, days after Shia made it the new home of the protest after getting kicked out of his New York venue.
The art installation managed to stay up for 5 days until February 23, 2017. Gunshots were heard over the livestream. So much for Albuquerque, New Mexico being a safer space.
"We have taken the stream down after shots were reported in the area," LaBeouf wrote on Twitter. "The safety of everybody participating in our project is paramount."
Business Insider: Shia LaBeouf Shut Down His Anti-Trump Protest Stream After Reports Of Gunshots
Shia LaBeouf wasn't going to be discouraged though. But obviously a different tactic must be employed for his performance art installation to be successful. It was then decided that a flag would be made and the camera would be focused on that rather than people and their reaction to it.
So, on March 8, 2017, the web cam was moved to an unknown location. It broadcasted the image of a flag proudly waving in the wind with the words "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" boldly proclaimed on it.
I am not sure where the "performance art" portion comes into a livestream of a flag waving in the wind. But no matter...
The next day, an unknown person was seen taking the "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" flag and replacing it with a Trump hat and Pepe The Frog t-shirt. Online users speculated that the flag was found by tracking flight patterns and mapping stars in the night sky during the livestream.
The claim that the flag would stay there for the “duration” was taken as a challenge by the folks at 4chan. They were given a seemingly insurmountable task to play the greatest game of capture the flag ever played. No clues tipped them to the location. But somehow, with the power of determination and youth unemployment, they found it and they trolled it hard.
The search began on March 8 and was immediately narrowed when Labeouf was spotted on social media at a diner in Greenville, Tennessee, although some in the thread still believed the flag was in the Great Lakes area due to wind patterns. The time of the sunset in Greenville matched with the time of sunset on the stream, and so did the weather on local weather reports.
4channers began looking into flight patterns. One of the few clues available on the stream were the contrails left by airplanes. Greenville was finally confirmed as the location after two planes observed on online flight radars intersected over the town and were seen on the stream.
Finally when three planes flew over the area, 4channers were able to triangulate an approximate location of the flag.
This area was too large to search unfortunately. The 4channers began looking to the stars, using ancient astronomy to help map the direction of the camera and pinpoint a more precise location.
They also sent out a guy in his truck to honk his horn around Greenville to see if they could hear it on the livestream, to mark the location.
The trail led into a field on private property next to some poor soul’s house. Tennessee based 4channers were standing by to capture the flag. After scoping out the area for hours they finally made a move. The anonymous group stole the “He Will Not Divide Us” flag and replaced it with a Trump “Make America Great Again” hat and a Pepe the Frog t-shirt.
The flag pole was left barren on the stream all morning, until Labeouf and co. finally turned the stream completely off in utter defeat.
Shia LaBeouf, bless his heart, was not to be defeated. He decided to change locations... again.
Enter the world's largest game of Capture The Flag. The stakes are non-existent. Locations were global. But autists were up to the task.
On March 22, 2017, a new location was picked. This time in Liverpool, England. If Shia LaBeouf couldn't have his precious "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" flag here in the United States, he would do it overseas. "America is simply not safe enough for this artwork to exist," the website with the livestream proclaimed.
The safest place, obviously, was at the very top of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology building.
Well… challenge accepted!
Online users started planning on how to get to the top of the building to take the flag down. Everything was considered, including using drones with knife attachments to cut it down and paint bombing it via drone drops. Nothing was off the table.
But it would seem that the masked crusader was well ahead of them. On March 23, he appeared on the livestream. When he left, an empty flagpole sat in his wake. Who was that masked man?
Shia LaBeouf, once again bound and determined to have his performance art installation, was not to be discouraged. But again, another approach needed to be employed.
So a digital replica of the performance art installation was created by Studio Nobu. A virtual "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" flag placed in the middle of a virtual desert.
The site was taken down after a DDOS attack.
Then, on August 13, 2017, the performance art installation was back up. This time, however, it was the "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" flag placed against a white wall at a unknown location.
Online users started tracking the sun’s movement through a nearby window as the light shown across the flag. It's location was ultimately discovered, however, after a blue light became visible during the livestream. Yes. Online users tracked the source and location of the blue light and the location of the flag.
In October, 2017, the performance art installation was moved once again. The destination? France. The flag was located on a flagpole at the top of the Le Lieu Unique contemporary arts and music venue in Nantes, France.
Shortly after, a drone carrying a flaming piece of cloth was shown on the livestream. The drone subsequently crashed and burned.
Vandals used a drone in an attempt to set fire to an anti-Trump exhibit in the latest attack against the creation co-founded by US actor Shia LaBeouf.
The project, which features a white flag with the words "He Will Not Divide Us" filmed round-the-clock by a camera, has already moved several times from New York to New Mexico and to Liverpool in Britain because of security problems.
It was installed this month above an art gallery in an old biscuit factory in the western French city of Nantes where the flag came under attack overnight Tuesday-Wednesday by a drone, which attempted for several minutes to set it on fire.
The remotely-piloted arson attempt failed when the drone crashed.
"An unauthorised drone carrying a burning piece of cloth approached the flag to try to set it alight. The fireproof flag was undamaged and the attempt failed," Lieu Unique gallery said in a statement.
On May 8, 2018, Shia LaBeouf tried once again to relocate the flag. On May 9, 2019, a post on 4Chan appeared with the words "It's dead."
Thus ends the greatest game of Capture the Flag ever played.
That was awesome! Thanks for telling the story. I'm not on 4chan but know a bunch of people who are and it sounds like a wild place.
Aww, I missed out on this. I was never on the Chans servers, so I did not get to see it.
Fun story, and thank you for telling it!