SpongeBob is a legend and icon who has been entertaining us for the last 21 years!
Not to mention, he has also been the most memeable character of the last decade!
Well, on top of everything I mentioned above, it turns out that SpongeBob may be gay, too!
Yup! Earlier today, Nickelodeon tweeted out this statement in celebration of pride — which also features pictures of Korra from The Legend of Korra, actor Michael D. Cohen from Henry Danger, and SpongeBob:
Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month 🌈 (🎨: by @ramzymasri)
Now, it's important to note that the tweet features members of the LGBTQ community: Michael transitioned 20 years ago, while Korra is bisexual.
Which leaves SpongeBob possibly being revealed as gay!
Nickelodeon also turned off the comments to the tweet ('cause I am sure they didn't want to read faux outrage from some parents who might be rage-tweeting that they would no longer allow their kids to watch SpongeBob!):
Of course, people on Twitter had lots to say about the tweet. Some people said it was pretty badass of Nickelodeon to just tweet that out and turn off the comments:
Announcing Spongebob being gay then turning comments off cause it ain’t no debate>>> Nickelodeon SNAPPED https://t.co/O7grNmjaJA
Nickelodeon after pressing the tweet button on that spongebob gay post
they said spongebob gay then LEFT THE ROOM https://t.co/B85V6wp9NJ
Others joked that the tweet was going to ~offend~ homophobes and conservatives:
Nickelodeon: SPONGEBOB GAY 🌈 Conservative parents: “this is outrageous! We have to protect our children!”
While some people were like, "SpongeBob, we knew all along":
Spongebob gay but we been knew!
y’all are shocked spongebob gay? he’s been hinting at it for years 🤦🏽♀️
how are we surprised that spongebob gay when he was literally the og of this
Everyone shocked that nick tweeted out spongebob gay , when this literally was in an episode lmao
Spongebob gay? I mean he literally had a baby with Patrick
All I can say is, this is probably SpongeBob right now, not giving a care in the world and dancing to Chromatica at Bikini Bottom Pride! 🏳️🌈
Looking for more ways to get involved? Check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride on our relaunched LGBTQ page.
CORRECTION
Korra from The Legend of Korra is bisexual; an earlier version of this post mislabeled her sexual orientation. Also, the post has been updated to include what the series' creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said about the characters in 2005.