Kevin D. Hendricks

James Dobson: Does Anybody Here Know SpongeBob?

The founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, singled out the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants for promoting homosexuality. Dobson was referring to a music video remake of the disco hit “We Are Family” which starred children’s television characters, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney, Big Bird, Elmo, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Winnie the Pooh, Jimmy Neutron and dozens of others (it’s worth noting that SpongeBob only appears in background clips–he doesn’t actually sing like most other characters do). The We Are Family Foundation, which made the video, plans to distribute it to 61,000 elementary schools this spring along with educational lesson plans promoting tolerance and diversity, all in celebration of a proposed National We Are Family Day on March 11, 2005.

“We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids,” said Dobson’s assistant, Paul Batura. “It is a classic bait and switch.”

Mark Barondeso, general counsel for the We Are Family Foundation, suggested that anyone who says the video promotes homosexuality “needs to visit their doctor and get their medication increased.”

The music video also includes cameo appearances by Billy Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg and Diana Ross. The organization’s attempt to establish National We Are Family Day has been supported by Senators Bob Dole and Orrin Hatch. The initiative also has broad backing from a range of partners and sponsors, including PBS, Nickelodeon, Disney, Sesame Workshop, Scholastic Entertainment, Fed-Ex and more.

With all those involved, Dobson choose to single out a fictional character that appears in the video for less than five seconds. It’s all painfully reminescent of Jerry Falwell accusing Tinky Winky the Teletubby of being gay in 1999.

Perhaps Dobson should team up with the one character who apparently didn’t appreciate his role in the music video: Oscar the Grouch, who declared in the middle of the song, “I’m in my worst nightmare! I’m in the middle of a heart-felt anthem!” Or perhaps Dobson has seen the John Hagee video, Pulling Down SpongeBob’s Squarepants: Exposing Satan’s Yellow Bellied Plan.