Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Viacom's sudden act of kindness upon Stephen Hillenburg's death

On 26th November 2018, Stephen Hillenburg died following a diagnosis of ALS last year and his death was announced the next day. I was informed this by my dad who came in with a news article on his tablet and -surprisingly enough- I didn't cry unlike what happened when Stephen Hawking died in March, also of ALS. I just got a bit sad but I am also puzzled at how ALS took him so quickly as usually a person with ALS dies 2 to 5 years after diagnosis. I listened to O Krusty Krab from Truth or Square as I reflected on his life as it's one of the few sad Spongebob songs that came into my head (I did listen to This grill is not a home and Gary come home as well) and got swept up in the tide of tribute via Twitter and on DeviantArt (they aren't always gaga about fetishes BTW).

I am making this post not because I forgot this blog existed for a while but because well, Viacom's heart grew the day Stephen's death was announced and ALLOWED SPONGEBOB FANS to UPLOAD clips from the show as a tribute. I say this because they would take down anything that has one of their intellectual properties in them and even eradicate the user who uploaded the content off the ace of YouTube but I guess Viacom decided to let fans upload clips of the show as a tribute so that way the fans wouldn't go at them for taking down their tributes to Stephen Hillenburg.
Oh and Nickelodeon paid tribute (of course) to Stephen via this video:
Before you ask, I was very young when I started watching Spongebob and I had the comics (Pre Bongo), 2 VHS tapes (Tide and Seek and The Seascape Caper), the first film on DVD and To Love a Patty on DVD along with a Spongebob toy where it told jokes by squeezing the hand and a least one toy from a Happy Meal.
Rest In Peace, Stephen Hillenburg (21 August 1961 - 26 November 2018)

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