The Cayman NetNews reports that the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (DoT), has responded to reports that its newest ‘partner,’ Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, is an icon in the gay community. ‘Rumors about the sexual-orientation of the character began to fly shortly after a Wall Street Journal article suggested the show had a sizeable gay [male] following, in fact, it claimed almost one in four viewers was aged between 18 and 49. In a letter to Cayman Net News, DoT quoted Nickelodeon’s Vice President of Corporate Communications David Bittler, as saying: ‘SpongeBob SquarePants, a show about an animated, fictional character, brings in more than $2 billion in retail sales and is watched by 55 million viewers a month. With these kinds of statistics, the show is a mainstream pop cultural icon embraced by kids of all ages and their families.” The Department, which partnered with Nickelodeon, and therefore SpongeBob, to reinforce Cayman’s position as a family destination in the Caribbean, also made reference to the Journal’s interview with SpongeBob’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg. He was quoted as having said: ‘I do think that the attitude of the show is about tolerance. Everybody is different, and the show embraces that.’