SpongeBob SquarePants episodes, including “Mid-Life Crustacean” and “Kwarantined Krab,” have now been removed from the streaming site Paramount+ and cannot be purchased digitally on Amazon either.
While the former episode was taken out of rotation as it had material that is said to not be kid-friendly, the latter seemed only to bear a resemblance to the Coronavirus pandemic.
“’Mid-Life Crustacean’ has been out of rotation since 2018, following a standards review in which we determined some story elements were not kid-appropriate,” said a representative from Nickelodeon about the episode.
Coming to questions about what particular scenes may have been inappropriate for kids or whether the channel considered placing a simple warning or disclaimer instead of taking it down, the representative had nothing to say.
A particular scene that appears to have triggered the takedown of the episode could be where Patrick suggests a “panty raid” which leads to Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Spongebob breaking into the house of a woman, who also happens to be Mr. Krabs’ mom, for stealing underwear. What happens next is the trio getting caught red-handed. His mother then sends Mr. Krabs to his childhood room.
But strangely enough, the other episode that followed “Mid-Life Crustacean,” “The Great Snail Race,” however, was not taken down on Paramount+ (it is to be noted that two Spongebob episodes are aired together in a 30-minute slot on television).
Amazon, however, did not have either the episodes for purchase digitally, and neither did Amazon Prime USA have the episodes online.
The other episode that has been censored, which also happens to be from season 12, is titled “Kwarantined Krab.” In the episode, the inspector Krusty Krab finds a “Clam Flu” case in the restaurant and quarantines all the patrons inside. What we next see is everyone growing suspicious of one another and throwing suspects with the virus in the freezer.
In a statement, an executive from Nickelodeon said to IGN: “The ‘Kwarantined Crab’ centers on a virus storyline, so we have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic.”
