The SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Passed Away This Morning....What A Run
Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants passed away today at the age of 57. The cause of death was ALS, which he told the public he had last year.
Man this stinks. I was talking to someone the other day how in all seriousness, SpongeBob has had an amazing run. We are talking about a TV show here that has been one of the most popular amongst kids for like 20 years. Name other show that has been able to take over almost two separate generations of kids. The show released in 1999 and has created over 13 billion dollars in merchandise revenue for Nickelodeon according to the Hollywood Reporter. 13 billion is an insane amount of money for a show about a sponge.
Think about that for a second….the guy took an idea about a sponge with square pants who lives at the bottom of the ocean with his best friends that are a star fish and a squirrel and he turned it into a $13 billion merchandise franchise. I can only imagine the money they made with their TV deals too. What a legend. What an absolute legend who was reported to be worth over $100 million.
Find me a better dynasty than SpongeBob SquarePants and i’ll call you a liar.
It also goes to show that no matter how much money you have a disease like ALS gives zero fucks. You can pay for the best treatment in the world and nothing changes. Shoutout to Pete Frates for everything he has done for that terrible disease. What a guy.