Everybody is different, and the show embraces that. He said: 'I do think that the attitude of the show is about tolerance. Hillenburg also insisted the popular cartoon series preaches a message of 'tolerance'. We're just trying to be funny and this has nothing to do with the show.' He explained at the time: 'I consider them to be almost asexual. Speculation about SpongeBob's sexual identity has been swirling for years, but in 2005, Stephen Hillenburg - the show's creator, who died in November 2018 - revealed he never intended for SpongeBob or his best friend, Patrick Starfish, 'to be gay'. The announcement prompted 'Spongebob is gay' to start trending on Twitter - although Nickelodeon didn't specifically confirm the character's sexuality. The tweet read: 'Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month (sic)'
The popular cartoon character's status as an LGBTQ+ icon has been confirmed by Nickelodeon, with the TV network posting an image of SpongeBob, transgender actor Michael Cohen and Korra from 'The Legend of Korra', who is bisexual, on Twitter. SpongeBob SquarePants has officially become a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
