A petition to get "Sweet Victory" performed at the Super Bowl halftime show has gathered over 700,000 signatures.
The tune is arguably the most famous song from the long-running animated series SpongeBob Squarepants, and the petition was launched just days after the death of Stephen Hillenburg, the show's creator.
"As a tribute to his legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly showcase the greatness of this song, we call for Sweet Victory to be performed at the Halftime Show," organizer Isreal Colunga wrote on the petition's online page.
The petition gained notoriety after it was retweeted from producer Bob Kulick, who worked on the song.
Aside from being a tribute to Hillenburg, the tune has also another link to the Super Bowl. In the show's "Band Geeks" episode, SpongeBob sings the song in front of a crowd at the Bubble Bowl, which is a clear reference to the Super Bowl.
Hillenburg died last week after a battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 57, having been diagnosed with the disease in March last year.
Also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS is a neurological disease that impacts physical performance by weakening muscles. The weakening of muscles can impact the ability to walk, speak, eat and breathe, and the disease becomes worse over time.
SpongeBob premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999 and has aired nearly 250 episodes since it began. In 2017, the show was renewed for 26 new episodes to last through 2019.
Super Bowl LIII is scheduled for February 3 at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, marking the third time the city has hosted the event, which was staged at the now demolished Georgia Dome in 1994 and 2000.
While an official announcement has yet to be made, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard have all reported Maroon 5 will be the headline act of the halftime show.
Justin Timberlake headlined the halftime show of Super Bowl LII in February, while Lady Gaga held the honor in Texas the previous year.
The NFL claimed the singer's performance was the "most-watched musical event of all-time," citing a figure of approximately 150 million viewers, which included the TV audience and unique viewership of video postings of the halftime show on the league's platforms and social media interactions.
In terms of TV ratings, the show was watched by 117.5 million people, the second-highest viewership in the history of Super Bowl halftime shows. In 2014, Katy Perry's appearance on the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIX reached a peak of 120.3 million viewers, the most-watched TV broadcast in U.S. history.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more
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