In celebration of Pride Month, kids’ network Nickelodeon included SpongeBob in a post about LGBTQ+ characters and allies, restarting a long-running conversation about the beloved sea sponge and his sexuality.
The post featured SpongeBob, Schwoz Schwartz from Henry Danger, and Korra from Legend of Korra against a rainbow backdrop, with the caption “Celebrating Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month.”
Way back in 2002, SpongeBob was celebrated as a gay icon, with many assuming this meant that the character himself was gay. This has never been explicitly stated, however, and was not mentioned in Nickelodon’s post today.
In fact, creator Stephen Hillenburg said in a 2005 interview that he considered SpongeBob and his friend Patrick to be “almost asexual.” Fans of the show typically also assume this to be the case.
asexual spongebob is a queer icon https://t.co/IhqkN4lt5O
— tyler oakley 👹 (@tyleroakley) June 13, 2020
Today’s post from Nickelodeon would seemingly suggest that they consider SpongeBob to exist under the queer umbrella. Whatever his orientation, we can surely all agree on one immutable fact, which is that Mr. Krabs is one thicc bih:
The fourth and final season of Legend Of Korra premiered in 2014, and ended with the title character in a same-sex relationship with her friend Asami.
It bears mentioning that Nickelodeon did not seem quite so enthused about Korra’s sexuality at the time – the network famously cut the budget for this season of the show, and streamed it online rather than broadcasting it on television.
