Nickelodeon explains pulling episode from 'SpongeBob' rotation

Nickelodeon explains why 'Kwarantined Krab' was pulled from 'SpongeBob' rotation

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated Mar 31, 2021 12:47 PM ET

Nickelodeon has decided that art shouldn't always imitate life.

IGN first reported March 27 that an episode from SpongeBob Squarepants's current 12th season titled "Kwarantined Krab" will not air as previously scheduled.

An unnamed representative from the network provided the same statement to IGN and Deadline: "The ‘Kwarantined Crab’ (sic) centers on a virus storyline, so we have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic." According to Deadline, the episode's plot centered around a Krusty Krab health inspector detecting a case of "Clam Flu," causing everybody to quarantine inside the restaurant.

Interestingly, and sort of ironically, IMDb lists the next Season 12 episode of SpongeBob—scheduled to air April 5—to be "Lighthouse Louie/Hiccup Plague": "Spongebob cleans up the Boating School's lighthouse where he meets a cute but uncomfortable companion Hiccup Plague: No one is safe from a case of contagious hiccups."

For 22 years, fans have watched SpongeBob, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Sandy Cheeks, Mr. Krabs, and more, navigate every scenario imaginable under the sea in Bikini Bottom. The revolutionary cartoon was created by Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away from ALS in November 2018, and debuted in 1999.

It has since earned 10 Primetime Emmy nominations as the highest-rated children's series on television while also necessitating spinoff full-length movies—The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020)—and video game entities.

Sponge on the Run had its theatrical release delayed several times before getting canceled altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released the same day CBS All Access became Paramount Plus on March 4 as a way to drive traffic to the rebranded streamer.

Megan Armstrong

Megan Armstrong (@megankarmstrong) is a writer whose work has appeared in places such as Billboard, GQ, Esquire, Bleacher Report, Uproxx, and others. Megan has also produced various podcasts and hosted a daily radio show at Mizzou. She grew up obsessed with sports — impressing adults by memorizing NFL statistics as a kindergartner — and grew into an obsession with music

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