And whereas the 62-year-old’s feedback on the matter have now gone viral, it isn’t the primary time he is approached the topic.

“I do not know what there may be in that present that talks to children which are on the autism spectrum,” he mentioned on Marc Maron‘s WTF podcast in 2012, by way of The Impartial, “however greater than different cartoons—as a result of SpongeBob as a personality is a bit of autistic. Obsessed together with his job, very hardworking, will get actually actually deep into one thing.”

And 25 years after the present premiered on Nickelodeon, followers are nonetheless studying new details about their favourite Krusty Krab line cook dinner, together with that he is a member of the LGBTQ+ group.

In 2020, the community shared a submit in honor of Satisfaction Month and included a photograph of SpongeBob alongside transgender actor Michael Cohen, who performed Schwoz Schwartz in Henry Hazard, and Korra from The Legend of Korra, who’s bisexual, writing, “Celebrating #Satisfaction with the LGBTQ+ group and their allies this month and each month.”