Super Bowl 2019: Petition to play SpongeBob song to honour Stephen Hillenburg tops one million signatures
'Sweet Victory' appears on the 2001 episode Band Geeks
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A petition to play a SpongeBob Squarepants song at the Super Bowl has received more than one million signatures.
The petition, published on Change.org, argues that the tune should be played during the sporting event on 3 February, 2019 to honour SpongeBob’s late creator Stephen Hillenburg.
Hillenburg died in November 2018 aged 57, due to cardiopulmonary failure due to ALS.
The song singled out by the petition is Sweet Victory, a power anthem featured in the 2001 episode Band Geeks.
In the episode, SpongeBob delivers a rousing rendition of the track during the Bubble Bowl, a sporting event for which he and his friends have been recruited to perform.
American rock musician David Glen Eisley is the real-life singer of the ballad.
“As a tribute to [Hillenburg]’s 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,” reads the petition on Change.org.
An impressive 1,100,567 people had signed the petition as of Thursday and the number kept rising. Signatories have expressed their admiration for Hillenburg in online comments and said playing the song would be a powerful way to honour his memory.
While significant, the one million figure represents only a fraction of the audience usually drawn by the Super Bowl.
Last year, the event registered an average of 103.4 million viewers, down from 111.3 million viewers the previous year.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments