SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Starfish in a scene from their series.
CNN —
There has long been debate about the sexuality of SpongeBob Squarepants and some are taking a Nickelodeon tweet as his coming out.
The network included a photo of the beloved animated character in a recent tweet celebrating Pride Month.
SpongeBob is pictured in the tweet along along with actor Michael D. Cohen from “Henry Danger,” who is transgender, and the character of Avatar Korra, from “The Legend of Korra,” who is bisexual.
“Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month,” the tweet reads.
#SpongeBobIsGay started trending as many decided the tweet was confirmation of the character’s sexuality.
Due in part to his close relationship with best friend Patrick Star, the internet had long ago decided that SpongeBob was indeed gay.
But the show’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg, dismissed speculation about the characters’ relationship and sexuality in 2005.
Hillenburg died in 2018 at the age of 57 due to complications resulting from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with what we’re trying to do,” People magazine reported Hillenburg as saying. “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.”
CNN has reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.
