The voice of SpongeBob SquarePants has confirmed a theory about the beloved animated character (Picture: Publicity Picture)
The voice of SpongeBob SquarePants has confirmed a long-running theory about the character.
Hitting screens in 1999, the animated series follows the adventures of SpongeBob and his friends including Patrick Star and Sandy Cheeks in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.
Running for 14 seasons, the show has also inspired three feature films: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Sponge Out of Water and Sponge on the Run, as well as two spin-off series’, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and The Patrick Star Show.
Now, 25 years after viewers were first introduced to the yellow anthropomorphic sea sponge, actor Tom Kenny has revealed the character is neurodivergent.
Speaking at the recent Comic Con event in Detroit, Tom spoke about the first time he discussed SpongeBob’s ‘superpower’ with a fan.
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‘SpongeBob’s kind of on the spectrum too as a character,’ he told the cheering crowd in a video shared on social media.
The show has been running since 1999 (Picture: Nickelodeon)
‘It was the first time I’d ever been asked this question — 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?”.’
The actor recalled telling the fan, “Of course!”
Tom Kenny has voiced SpongeBob since the show first hit screens (Picture: Greg Doherty/ Getty Images)
He continued: ‘I said, “You know what? That’s his superpower, the same way that’s your superpower”.’
This wasn’t the first time Tom had spoken about his thoughts on the character’s neurodivergence.
In an interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast in 2012, he said: ‘I don’t know what there is in that show that talks to kids that are on the autism spectrum, 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.’
Aside from his work on this series, Tom, 62, has also voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in Rocko’s Modern Life, the Ice King in Adventure Time, the Narrator and Mayor in The Powerpuff Girls, Carl Chryniszzswics in Johnny Bravo, Dog in CatDog, The Penguin in various animated media based on DC Comics, and Spyro from the Spyro video game series.
SpongeBob SquarePants is streaming on Netflix.
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