SpongeBob is Autistic
I absolutely love it when authors or show writers posthumously (not quite the right word but you know what I mean) assign completely arbitrary, meaningless, not-a-single-thing-to-do-with-the-show-whatsoever traits to characters they created out of thin air many years ago. Who could forget when Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, announced to the world, "You know the old wizard from that massive 7 part book series I wrote? The book series that was the biggest thing in the world for a decade? Yeah he's gay."
Screen Rant - Throughout the Harry Potter saga, most of Dumbledore’s backstory was a mystery, and only a couple of details were revealed. However, outside the movies, Rowling confirmed that Dumbledore is gay, and confirmed that he had a romantic relationship with Gellert Grindelwald.
Some Harry Potter fans rejoiced. A fictional gay wizard of Dumbledore's status was a major come up for the LGBT (there were only 4 letters back then) community. Representation matters. They went out to the clubs dressed in tall pointy wizard hats and drafted 50 Shades of Hogwarts erotic fan fiction.
Harry Potter fans in other areas of the country had their world's shattered. The old wise professor Dumbledore who they'd come to love and respect didn't strictly abide by the word of a Christian god? The Dumbledore who is magical and can cast spells? Blasphemy!
Whereas a majority of fans read the news and thought, "Huh... that seems like an unnecessary grenade to just lob out there, but whatever", and continued enjoying Harry Potter in the exact same way as they were before because literally nothing has changed about the books.
Spongebob being declared autistic seems harmless enough. I'm yet to see any angry tweets along the lines of, "SO ALL THESE YEARS MY KID HAS BEEN WATCHING A-".. I'm not going to finish this hypothetical parent who doesn't want an autistic cartoon character on their child's television screen's sentence. But you see where I'm going with that. I don't think autistic Spongebob will break any brains. I hope not. But while he's at it, I would appreciate if Tom Kenny would go ahead and diagnose the rest of the Spongebob Squarepants universe with their own unique mental illnesses. Does Sandy have ADHD? Does Squidward have Asperger's? Does Patrick Star have down syndrome? Is Mr. Krabs Jewish? You opened this can of worms Tom. Your fans deserve answers.
It's very funny to me how much power authors and writers wield over their fans. Especially those who create entire worlds full of characters who become so universally beloved by fans that they form personal and emotional connections with them as if they were real people. In the blink of an eye... it could be years after the series ends... George R.R. Martin can peek his head out from whatever cave he sleeps in and say, "Daenerys was actually trans she had a sex change before the show started", and start a god damn civil war.
Consider the TV show Friends. The creators of Friends could ruin a character in a matter of minutes if they wanted to.
"So the thing about Joey, which we never disclosed during the show but is actually true, is that he had AIDS. But he never disclosed it. Never used condoms either. For 10 seasons Joey Tribbiani was an AIDS super-spreader in New York City."
Joey's character is changed forever. Friends is changed forever. Doesn't this scene look a lot different now?
Matt LeBlanc is probably gets death threats in the mail. The writers could make that happen whenever they please.
It's hilarious because none of it matters at all. The art should stand alone. Whatever is in the book is in the book. The show is the show. Not every fictional character needs a declared sexuality or a mental diagnosis if it's not pertinent to the story. That being said… I hope writer's never stop doing it. It makes me laugh every time. I can't wait until the writers of Sesame Street tell us who Big Bird voted for this election.