Fans have been debating the sexuality of SpongeBob SquarePants, after Nickelodeon featured the character in a Pride message on social media.
On 13 June, the children’s TV channel posted on Twitter: “Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month”, alongside three images of characters from various Nickelodeon programmes – including SpongeBob.
Many fans and media outlets interpreted the tweet as an announcement that SpongeBob, who is voiced by Tom Kenny, identifies as gay, or somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Many people speculated that SpongeBob could in fact be asexual, leading to the word “asexual” to trend on Twitter.