Just last month, Pixar released a short film on Disney+ featuring a gay protagonist Out followed his journey to come out to his parents and introduce them to his boyfriend. LGBTQ+ representation in children's media remains scarce, largely due to pushback from studios and parents who equate visible gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans characters with the "sexualization" of children.
Several moments from the show's earlier seasons have resurfaced and been immortalized as memes in the last couple of years, including one still which shows SpongeBob and his best friend (or boyfriend?) Patrick both with limp wrists, foreshadowing this revelation by Nickelodeon. SpongeBob SquarePants started airing in 1999, and has become known for its mix of surrealism and slapstick humor. When this random fish named Scooter mistook SpongeBob’s pet seahorse Mystery for a kiddie ride and inserted a coin into some coin slot offscreen. (?: by /pENmTaQB0h- Nickelodeon June 13, 2020 Everyone went so feral so quickly that it's just ‘SpongeBob gay’.Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month ? “Nickelodeon just fucking wrecked all of the aphobes by saying SpongeBob is asexual and LGBTQIA+,” wrote another fan.Ī Twitter user commented on the trend and marveled, “I love that it's not even ‘SpongeBob is gay’. A Twitter user wrote, “A lot of people are saying ‘Spongebob is asexual according to Stephen Hillenburg’ and I just wanna point out that would still make him queer, aces are queer, he can be a gay ace, he’s allowed to wear the rainbow too, guys.”Īnother wrote, “Everyone tweeting ‘SpongeBob gay’ as if Stephen Hillenburg didn't confirm that he's asexual like 15 years ago sis he's been an LGBTQIA+ icon since 2005!” A twitter user wrote, “Spongebob gay? I mean he literally had a baby with Patrick.” More still joked about the probable reactions of conservatives at the announcement, with GIFs and videos of people angrily running and shouting.Īddressing Hillenburg’s 2002 comments on SpongeBob, many also pointed out that asexuality was part of the queer umbrella. Others once again pointed at the direction of the 2002 episode. One wrote, “Announcing Spongebob being gay then turning comments off cause it ain’t no debate. While Nickelodeon has not specified anything - SpongeBob may as well be gay, trans, asexual, or just an ally - it turned off the option for anyone to reply to the tweet, keeping the ambiguity on the subject intact. Everybody is different, and the show embraces that. I do think that the attitude of the show is about tolerance. He said, “I always think of as being somewhat asexual.
#Spongebob gay meme twitter series
In the same year, series creator Stephen Hillenburg addressed these issues. Not many, however, considered that sea sponges were neither male nor female. The show was accused of promoting gay marriage. SpongeBob took the role of the mother and Patrick of the father. In the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick Star adopted an abandoned baby scallop. In 2002, when the episode ‘Rock-a-Bye Bivalve’ first aired, it caused some controversy. The argument that SpongeBob is gay has been up there for a while now. What triggered this trend was the official Nickelodeon Twitter account sharing rather colorful artworks of SpongeBob, Schwoz Schwartz from 'Henry Danger,' and Korra from the 'Avatar' spin-off show 'Legend of Korra' with the caption: “Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month.” SpongeBob, of course, is the titular character of the Nickelodeon animated series ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ that premiered in 1999 and has since been immortalized in popular culture and memes. “SpongeBob gay,” wrote many on Twitter, causing the phrase to trend on Saturday, June 13.