The SpongeBob SquarePants Is Gay Controversy Explaed (& Why It's Dumb)

Contents:

• SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? NICKELOON JT RERCED THAT THEORY
• NICKELOON JT ANNOUNCED THAT SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY
• SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY! NICKELOON (FALLY) CONFIRMS HIS LGBTQ STAT FOR PRI
• THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY CONTROVERSY EXPLAED (& WHY IT'S DUMB)
•  STEPHEN HILLENBURG SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANT GAY AXSEXUAL SEXUALY PRI MONTH NICKELOON TWEET RABOW
• NICKELOON PRI TWEET HTS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY
• IS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? EVERY TIME THE SHOW SUGGTED HE IS
• THE NATURE OF SPONGEBOB’S GAYNS
• IS SPONGEBOB GAY?
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• IS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? HERE'S WHAT THE SERI CREATOR HAD TO SAY.
• IS SPONGEBOB GAY? WHAT’S SPONGEBOB’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN?

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? NICKELOON JT RERCED THAT THEORY

#SpongeBobIsGay started trendg as many cid the tweet was nfirmatn of the character’s sexualy. Due part to his close relatnship wh bt iend Patrick Star, the ter had long ago cid that SpongeBob was ed gay. “We never tend them to be gay.

) Patrick both wh limp wrists, forhadowg this revelatn by reprentatn children's media remas srce, largely due to phback om studs and parents who equate visible gay, lbian, bisexual or trans characters wh the "sexualizatn" of children.

NICKELOON JT ANNOUNCED THAT SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY

Jt last month, Pixar released a short film on Disney+ featurg a gay protagonist; Out followed his journey to e out to his parents and troduce them to his boyiend. And later this year, Marvel Studs will but the first openly gay superhero the MCU — and his hband.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY! NICKELOON (FALLY) CONFIRMS HIS LGBTQ STAT FOR PRI

Given the fandom’s long-held belief that SpongeBob intified as gay, ’s the least Nickeloon uld do for this beloved kids show, and social media reactns did not disappot. Fans quickly reacted sharg stills om the show and celebratg SpongeBob’s om SheKnowsGrey's Anatomy Fan-Favore Chyler Leigh Com Out Heartfelt LetterCoolhs Founr Natasha Case Spills Her Kid-Snack Hack & It Involv Eel, Not Ice CreamThe Trans Moms Hate Mother's Day -- Here's WhyNot surprised about #SpongebobIsGay sce has always kda jt been the way I have seen SB, but that do not stop me om beg DELIRIOUSLY happy about SB reprentg lgbtq+ culture ❤️?️‍?— ℍ???? ???? (@EmmaHso) June 14, 2020Other fans of the show have taken issue wh this, however, potg out that SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg had intified the character as asexual years ago. Further, sce SpongeBob is not explicly lled gay, fans are left wonrg whether the tweet was fact a misguid alln to his asexualy, which is not referenced the LGBTQ Nickeloon would undoubtedly have ma a stronger statement by, well, makg an actual statement, this is still a big step forward for reprentatn kids’ TV, which has long led LGBTQ characters and relatnships too “adult” for s ntent, spe their fort cludg adult heterosexual relatnships.

5% feel unsafe at kids had jt as many beloved gay rtoon characters as those they assume to be straight, how many LGBTQ kids might feel better accepted and unrstood? The artwork by Ramzy Masri, which showed all three characters cloaked rabows, had the ter speculatg — and var forms of “SpongeBob is gay” was already nfirmed by the “Legend of Korra” creators to have end the seri a relatnship wh female iend Asami. Is SpongeBob gay?

After all, this isn’t the first time fans have speculated about SpongeBob, the square-panted hero who me up wh a rabowger:Nickeloon outright nied SpongeBob was gay 2002. ”Hillenburg doubled down on those ments to Rters 2005, sayg: “We never tend them to be gay. ”Unls Nickeloon is gog back on seri creator Hillenburg’s statements, SpongeBob isn’t gay.

THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY CONTROVERSY EXPLAED (& WHY IT'S DUMB)

While Nickeloon’s post had some perhaps erroneoly spreadg the word that SpongeBob was “nfirmed” to be gay, others were celebratg him as the asexual in he already is:You May Like. SpongeBob SquarePants has had s dose of ntroversy, the biggt one beg about SpongeBob promotg homosexualy. SpongeBob SquarePants hasn’t been safe om ntroversy, and the biggt one is that about SpongeBob beg gay and “tryg to turn children gay”.

The character has been acced of promotg homosexualy, wh var groups exprsg their disfort and even mandg that Nickeloon stops airg the show.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Is Gay Controversy Explaed.

 STEPHEN HILLENBURG SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANT GAY AXSEXUAL SEXUALY PRI MONTH NICKELOON TWEET RABOW

The “SpongeBob is gay” ntroversy n be tracked all the way back to 2002, when the episo “Rock-a-Bye Bivalve” first aired.

The show was acced of promotg gay marriage, but as sea spong aren’t eher female or male, SpongeBob beg the mother is actually normal for him – even more when rememberg that Hillenburg was a mare science tor, and he add as many real life characteristics to the characters as possible. Hillenburg even clarified that he nsired the character to be “somewhat asexual”, and all claims that SpongeBob is gay are false.

NICKELOON PRI TWEET HTS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IS GAY

A few years later, 2005, a vio wh clips of children’s shows, cludg SpongeBob SquarePants, promotg diversy and tolerance was cricized by an evangelil group, statg the show was “advotg homosexualy”.

Others have poted out SpongeBob’s relatnship wh his bt iend, Patrick, sayg they are a uple and th, once aga, promotg homosexualy. Meanwhile, some others have simply cid that SpongeBob is gay bee of how he acts.

IS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? EVERY TIME THE SHOW SUGGTED HE IS

Is SpongeBob SquarePants gay? " In fact, a Ukraian webse lled Fay Unr the Protectn of the Holy Virg said the spongy character promot homosexualy. Of urse, this didn't prove anythg as the work or the creator of the character didn't e forward and say anythg about SpongeBob's sexual orientatn, but many took to social media assertg that their spicns that SpongeBob was gay.

Turns out that don't matter what the work tend bee many saw the character beg an ally of the LGBTQIA+ muny as a nfirmatn that he is gay – they took the tweet by Nickeloon as SpongeBob g out. The work's tweet read, "Celebratg #Pri wh the LGBTQ+ muny and their alli this month and every month, " which promptly saw the hashtag #SpongeBobIsGay trendg. Intertgly enough back 2005, Hillenburg spoke about SpongeBob sayg that he didn't tend for Patrick and SpongeBob to be gay.

” So if we're gog by his statement, then well, the sponge isn't gay, he's asexual. Absorbent and yellow and poro is he… and gay?

THE NATURE OF SPONGEBOB’S GAYNS

Fans of the ntil rtoon, which began airg 1999, have long-spected Spongebob to be gay.

IS SPONGEBOB GAY?

“Announcg Spongebob beg gay then turng ments off e a’t no bate, ” tweeted @Drebae_, notg how the work turned off the abily to reply to their tweet. “Spongebob gay?

However, creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died om ALS 2018, had mataed that SpongeBob was a member of the LGBTQ+ muny by beg asexual, not gay. Nickeloon revealed SpongeBob SquarePants is an LGBTQ+ ally, but do that mean he's gay?

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

Qutns about whether SpongeBob is gay or not have been floatg around for years as the show has dropped some hts about , even though seri’ creator Stephen Hillenburg spoke about years ago.

IS SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY? HERE'S WHAT THE SERI CREATOR HAD TO SAY.

The biggt one is that of SpongeBob’s sexualy, wh many groups accg the show of promotg homosexualy and gay marriage.

People sisted the episo promoted gay marriage, but as sea spong aren’t eher female or male (and Hillenburg was a mare science tor), playg the role of mother was normal for SpongeBob. Of urse, the ntroversy didn’t end there, and many groups began to over-analyze the show to fd clu that proved that SpongeBob was gay and the show was a bad example for children. To some, however, SpongeBob’s overly cheerful personaly and sensivy are enough proof that the character is actually gay.

While many have taken Nickeloon’s tweet as nfirmatn that SpongeBob is gay, ’s important to remember that Hillenburg once clarified that he nsired the character to be “somewhat asexual”, very much like real-life sea spong. A CNN story spired by the tweet (“SpongeBob SquarePants gay? Nickeloon jt rerced that theory”) opened by notg the “long bate about [the character’s] sexualy” (Franc 2020)—a bate that dat at least as far back as an oft-ced 2002 Wall Street Journal piece attributg the gay speculatn surroundg animated in to the show’s “sunny optimism, weird psychelic world and peculiar humor, ” as well as to the SpongeBob merch apparently flyg om the shelv of New York’s gay novelty shops (Beatty).

IS SPONGEBOB GAY? WHAT’S SPONGEBOB’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN?

In 2007, Sarah Ba-Weiser affirmed that SpongeBob’s “adult fan base … as well as the mpy, kschy nature of the program, has rulted a semtic readg, by some, of the show as a ‘gay show’” (2007: 200). Signifintly, though, Nickeloon cled to ment for the CNN story; to quote Cathy Renna (of the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn) her rponse to the origal Wall Street Journal piece: “He’s a sponge; how n he be gay? And SpongeBob’s gayns, I want to suggt, is siarly (hetero)flexible: both hoehold product and poriferan, manufactured and natural, prepackaged and wild.