Hey Arnold!) as well as one of the longest-running American animated series.
SpongeBob SquarePants follows the daily adventures of the title character alongside his best friends Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants’ first episode saw the character applying for the fry cook job at the Krusty Krab, which he eventually got. Since then, SpongeBob has been happily working there, and while Mr. Krabs is happy with his performance, he has also fired the always optimistic sponge a couple of times.
Even though SpongeBob is the best employee at the Krusty Krab (Squidward is lazy and spends most of his time reading magazines), he has been fired a total of three times, all for different reasons which sometimes weren’t his fault at all. The first time SpongeBob was fired from the Krusty Krab was in season 1’s episode “Karate Choppers”, where he and Sandy got obsessed with karate. Mr. Krabs demanded that SpongeBob stopped or he would be fired, as it was affecting his job and scaring customers away. Not long after, Sandy attacked SpongeBob, and even though he didn’t move and tried to explain to her what was happening, Mr. Krabs saw them and fired him on the spot. Sandy explained to Mr. Krabs that it was her fault, and he gave SpongeBob his job back – on the condition that he stopped doing karate.
The second time Mr. Krabs fired SpongeBob happened in season 2’s episode “Squid on Strike”. In it, Mr. Krabs started deducting Squidward and SpongeBob’s pay for doing pretty much anything: talking, chewing, and even breathing. Squidward convinced SpongeBob to go on strike, to which he agreed even though he didn’t know what that was. As a result, both were fired, with Squidward annoyed by the situation and SpongeBob completely devastated. Their disagreements with Mr. Krabs were eventually solved, and they got their jobs back. Last but not least, SpongeBob was fired a third time in season 9’s episode “SpongeBob You’re Fired”. This time, SpongeBob was fired because Mr. Krabs found out he could save a nickel if he got rid of SpongeBob. This sent Spongebob into a deep depression, but he later tried to move on by working at the Weenie Hut, Pizza Piehole, Taco Sombrero, and Wet Noodle. Squidward ended up begging him to return as Mr. Krabs kept burning the Krabby Patties, and Mr. Krabs apologized for firing him.
Mr. Krabs has been criticized not only for his unhealthy obsession over money and for the terrible conditions his employees work under, particularly SpongeBob, who is pretty much overworked. “SpongeBob You’re Fired” was heavily criticized for “slamming” the Food Stamps benefit, its depiction of unemployment, labor laws, and more. It’s unknown if, after the backlash this episode received, the writers of SpongeBob SquarePants will have the character fired again, but if they do, the reasons will surely be less controversial.