Over the weekend, Nickelodeon announced that SpongeBob SquarePants is a member of the LGBTQ2 community.
“Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month,” Nickelodeon tweeted with a photo of SpongeBob, Avatar character Korra, who is bisexual, and Canadian transgender actor Michael D. Cohen.
SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg announced in 2005 that he never intended for SpongeBob or his best friend Patrick Starfish to “be gay.”
“We never intended them to be gay. I consider them to be almost asexual,” he told Reuters at the time. “We’re just trying to be funny and this has nothing to do with the show.”
“Spongebob is gay” became a trending topic on Twitter after Nickelodeon tweeted the photos.
Some fans of the show were excited about the news.
Many pointed out that Nickelodeon did not specify which sexuality or gender expression SpongeBob identifies with.
Some people said they already knew that SpongeBob was part of the LGBTQ2 community
Other people on Twitter noted that the SpongeBob SquarePants creator already announced that the character is asexual.