I get that for a while a lot of the internet stopped using it due to the negative associations and news articles citing the original claim by the advocacy group

I honestly think it’s a perspective of age, I don’t recall ever seeing it being dropped. Despite mostly being active in queer friendly areas of the internet.

But I recon age might have a factor, as everyone has seen Pepe used for all sorts of things before gamergate became a thing. Whilst communities based on younger individuals, might have taken other stances