Social media blew up with speculation about the sexual orientation of Spongebob, a beloved character from one of the longest-running animated series.
It all started when Nickelodeon posted a tweet to celebrate Pride Month. “Celebrating pride month with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month,” Nickelodeon tweeted.
Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month ?
(?: by @ramzymasri) pic.twitter.com/pENmTaQB0h— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) June 13, 2020
Accompanying the post with photos of Kora, the bisexual protagonist from The Legend of Korra, Canadian trans actor Michael D Cohen, portrays the character Schwoz Schwartz in Henry Danger and Spongebob. The tweet received over 100,000 retweets and 300,000 likes.
Soon enough “Spongebob Gay” started trending on Twitter.
Since its debut two decades ago, gay rumours have followed Spongebob. Spongebob, who is best friends with Patrick, a pink starfish. Their close relationship including episode where they hold hands has received knowing winks from queer fans.
Spongebob and Patrick’s favourite superhero TV show is called “The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy”. Among their friends are Squidward, a squid who loves taking bubble baths and a tomboyish squirrel, Sandy Cheeks.
A 2002 article in the Wall Street Journal had reported about Spongebobs huge gay fan base, with merchandise being popular purchases in queer retail shops in New York and Atlanta.
The rumours were fanned again when in a 2002 episode ‘Rock-A-Bye Baby‘ Spongebob and Patrick adopted and raised a baby scallop. They settled the argument over parental roles, with Spongebob pointing out that Patrick could not be mother, though he wanted to, as he never wore a shirt.
The Nickelodeon tweet was soon taken by twitter and media reports as confirmation that Spongebob was coming out as gay. Others pointed out that Spongebob had actually not come out as gay – the photo has the super-absorbent Spongebob show off rainbow colours.
But the tweet itself said “LGBTQ+ community and their allies”
So which was it, is Spongebob gay or an ally?
Marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg created the series Spongebob Squarepants in 1999. Hillenburg, who passed away in 2018, addressed the gay rumours in the 2002 WSJ article and said Spongebob was not gay.
“I always think of (the characters) as being somewhat asexual… I do think that the attitude of the show is about tolerance. Everybody is different, and the show embraces that. No one is shut out,” he said.
So, the final word is: Spongebob might be gay, or could be an ally, or asexual. Whatever Spongebob identifies as we know for sure that Spongebob is an incredible “queer toon!”
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