Nikelodeon appears to have hinted that SpongeBob SquarePants is gay
after showing Bikini Bottom’s most famous resident celebrating Pride
Month.
The network made the revelation on Saturday in a tweet to celebrate
Pride Month, although it did not specifically state SpongeBob’s sexual
orientation.
In a Twitter posting, Nikelodeon tweeted: ‘Celebrating #Pride with the
LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month.’
Three characters featured in the tweet including SpongeBob, Schwoz
Schwartz from Henry Danger, and Korra from the Legend of Korra.
The characters are shown wearing rainbow colored clothing or a pictured
against a rainbow colored background hinting that they are part of the
community.
Nickelodeon turned off comments and replies to their tweet, but fans of
the show did not appear to have been caught by surprise by the
announcement.
‘Spongebob gay? I mean he literally had a baby with Patrick,’ wrote one nonplussed Twitter user.
SpongeBob’s sexuality has been a topic of discussion for a number of years.
SpongeBob was created by Stephen Hillenburg and began in 1999 making it
one of the country’s longest-running cartoon series, although Hillenburg
had previously stated that the beloved sponge was not in fact gay, but
asexual.
‘We never intended them to be gay. I consider them to be almost asexual.
We’re just trying to be funny and this has got nothing to do with the
show,’ he said during an interview to Reuters in 2005.
