Originally appeared on E! Online
Your favorite sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea has had a superpower all along.
Actor Tom Kenny recently shared that SpongeBob SquarePants — a character he's voiced since the Nickelodeon show began in 1999—is autistic and "kind of on the spectrum" as a character.
Kenny made to revelation during a Q&A panel at Motor City Comic Con in Detroit earlier this year, recalling a previous interaction he'd had with a fan on the matter.
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"It was the first time I'd ever been asked this question," he explained in a video posted by a fan. "A person who was obviously on the spectrum came up to me and said, 'I have a question for you, Tom Kenny. Is SpongeBob autistic? Is SpongeBob himself autistic as a character?'"
"'Yes! Of course!'" Kenny recalled telling the fan. "'Of course he is.'"
But Kenny didn't stop there, noting, "'You know what? That's his superpower, the same way it's your superpower.'"
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And the comment from Kenny clearly had an effect on fans of the show.
"I knew it. No wonder why I understood him so well," one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter on July 23. Another user added, "Now I relate to him even more."
And while the 62-year-old's comments on the matter have now gone viral, it's not the first time he's approached the subject.
"I don't know what there is in that show that talks to kids that are on the autism spectrum," he said on Marc Maron's WTF podcast in 2012, via The Independent, "but more than other cartoons — because SpongeBob as a character is a little autistic. Obsessed with his job, very hardworking, gets really really deep into something."
And 25 years after the show premiered on Nickelodeon, fans are still learning new information about their favorite Krusty Krab line cook, including that he's a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2020, the network shared a post in honor of Pride Month and included a photo of SpongeBob alongside transgender actor Michael Cohen, who played Schwoz Schwartz in Henry Danger, and Korra from "The Legend of Korra," who is bisexual, writing, "Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month."
