Pepe the King Prawn often protests being mistaken for being a shrimp, insisting "I am not a shrimp... I am a king prawn!"
The king prawn, Litopenaeus vannamei, is also known as the whiteleg shrimp.
- In Muppets from Space, after Pepe uses his small stature to fit through the Door in a Jar, Rizzo exclaims "I can't believe that little shrimp left us behind." Pepe reappears announcing "I am not a shrimp... I am a king prawn!"
- The on screen titles for a Muppetism label Pepe as "pepé (the shrimp)." Pepe exclaims "I am not a shrimp, I am a king prawn" and the titles change to "pepé (the king prawn)."
- On the November 7, 2001 episode of Family Feud, Pepe corrects host Louie Anderson when he is called "a shrimp" stating that "I'm a king prawn, okay?"
- In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Dorothy rushes to save her pet Toto from the impending tornado. Aunt Em tells Dorothy to leave him, saying "he's just a shrimp" to which Dorothy responds "he's not a shrimp, he's a king prawn!"
- On May 10, 2021, Pepe tweeted: "Today is #NationalShrimpDay and I will NOT be celebrating, okay. As you know, I am a KING PRAWN, not a shrimp. When is #NationalKingPrawnDay???"[1]
- In Muppets Haunted Mansion, Pepe protests his headstone referring to him as "Pepper the Shrimp," taking offence saying "I'm not a shrimp, I'm a kingp-" before being cut off by Gonzo hurrying them out of the graveyard.
Honorable mentions
- Pepe is asked about how he feels being called a shrimp in a 2012 #AskPepe question. (YouTube)
- Despite being a proud king prawn, Pepe titled his 2008 memoir "It's Hard Out Here for a Shrimp."
- In A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, Pepe tries to arrogantly correct a mafioso who refers to him as an "annoying shrimp," stating that "they call me 'the prawn'." His associate gets upset and asks "are you correcting my friend" and proceeds to threaten to "dip [Pepe] in cocktail sauce and bite [his] tasty little head off." At which point Pepe nervously concedes, "um, shrimp is fine. Shrimp is fine."
- Pepe's infatuation with Constance Hatchaway in Muppets Haunted Mansion is escalated and maintained by her continued recognition and affirmation of him as her "big, jumbo, king prawn."
Sources
- ↑ @SpicyPrawn on Twitter. May 10, 2021.