Nickelodeon Comments On SpongeBob SquarePants Short Super Bowl Halftime Appearance

After much speculation, the Super Bowl did, in fact, honorSpongeBob Squarepants in the half-time show Super Bowl 53. Though nobody played “Sweet Victory” as hoped, SpongeBob character Squidward Tentacles introduced Travis Scott through a clip from the show.

Shortly after the tribute, Nickelodeon Animation took to Twitter to respond to the Bikini Bottom native making it to the Big Game.

As you can read in the tweet, Nickelodeon seems as disappointed as the rest of us when the show only managed to get featured during the concert for just a few seconds.

After SpongeBob Squarepants creator Stephen Hillenburg passed away last year, a Change.org petition aimed at getting the half-time show to honor the late animator ended up going viral.

“As some of you may or may not know, Stephen Hillenburg—the creator of Spongebob Sqaurepants—has passed away recently,” says Isreal Colunga, the organizer of the petition. “As a tribute to his legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly showcase the greatness of this song, we call for Sweet Victory to be performed at the Halftime Show.”

As of this writing, over 1.2 million have signed the petition, making it one of the most popular petitions to grace the website.

After his passing, Nickelodeon called Hillenburg’s death a tremendous loss not only for the network, but the entire industry.

“We are incredibly saddened by the news that Steve Hillenburg has passed away following a battle with ALS,” Nickelodeon said in a statement. “He was a beloved friend and long-time creative partner to everyone at Nickelodeon, and our hearts go out to his entire family. Steve imbued SpongeBob SquarePants with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere.”

“His utterly original characters and the world of Bikini Bottom will long stand as a reminder of the value of optimism, friendship and the limitless power of imagination.”

Were you surprised to see SpongeBob featured at all in the Super Bowl 53 Half-Time Show? Were you content with the clip played or did you expect more to happen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!