NZ First leader Winston Peters said he knew what a Pepe was when he signed the controversial frog cartoon in his own image at a university event in Wellington on Tuesday night.

Winston Peters is defending autographing a symbol associated with the far right at a university event saying it was a kind gesture and "meaningless".

The NZ First leader attended a question and answer session as part of Orientation week at Victoria University in Wellington on Tuesday night and was photographed afterwards signing a Pepe - a cartoon appropriated by groups of people with far-right ideologies.

Winston Peters, leader of the populist New Zealand First party, signs a pepe of himself pic.twitter.com/JzC2SmTAue — brad esposito (@braddybb) March 7, 2017

"A Pepe started off as a pretty innocuous cartoon character and like most modern things they can be distorted, twisted and what-have-you. A guy asked me to, and I know you're going to say that he's racist, well if he's a white racist why would he want Winston Peters to sign his document?" Peters said on Wednesday.

"That's an image that's been used by Trump, anti-Trump, a whole lot of people. It's actually meaningless and for you to say some catastrophic social disaster has occurred because I signed someone's paper - being a nice guy wishing him all the best - is beyond me."

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Pepe the frog is an internet meme originally from a comic series. It has since been appropriated by the alt-right - which includes white nationalists - and resulted in the Anti-Defamation League adding the meme to their database of hate symbols last year.

Peters said he knew what a Pepe was - in this case the cartoon was in his own image - and said "it's been used by all sorts of people".

"If it's been used by white supremacists why would they have me sign it? Don't you see the irony in that," he said.

Earlier in the evening Peters had questioned the media's role in a controversial European Students Association club being pressured to shut down.

"I don't know if you saw in Auckland University recently, the European club got shut down. No doubt you all followed it," he told the packed lecture theatre of university students.

"Isn't it amazing? You have got the Maori club, you've got the Chinese club, you've got every sort of club."

The group withdrew from the university after it was attacked for being a white nationalist group.

Peters said despite the Auckland University Students Association making no comments in support of fascism - the NZ Herald and others had deplored the association for not speaking out against it.

On Wednesday Peters stuck by those comments and the "NZ Herald attack on the European club".