Twitter abuzz that Spongebob is gay after Nickelodeon tweet honoring LGBTQ+ community

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — On Saturday morning, the children's network Nickelodeon celebrated Pride Month with a tweet, which included one of their most popular characters Spongebob Squarepants.

The tweet includes Spongebob, Avatar Korra from 'The Legend of Korra', who identifies as bisexual, and actor Michael D. Cohen from 'Henry Danger' who reportedly transitioned from female to male two decades ago.

Nickelodeon did not say specifically if the absorbent, yellow and porous cartoon character was gay or not. But naturally, as Twitter does, users exploded with connections that this proved Spongebob is gay.

Nickelodeon seemed like they were prepared for this outburst, turning off comments before they posted the tweet. It's also worth noting that the tweet mentions "and their allies," which some users took note of.

However, rumors that Spongebob was gay first started circulating back in 2002. The creator of the children's show Stephen Hillenburg denied Spongebob was gay in an interview that year, stating he was asexual, much like an actual sponge is asexual.

Hillenburg, who died in 2018, was a marine science teacher before he created the widely-popular hit TV show.