After a slew of fake and satirical candidates appeared in the 2016 US elections, including candidates named Deez Nuts, Harambe, and Queen Elsa Ice, the Federal Election Commission regulatory agency clamped down, removing unverified names from its listing and threatening legal action.
Who lives in a pineapple and is about to be sued by the FEC? Mr. Spongebob Edward Squarepants of Burbank, California, is who. Filings with the US Federal Election Commission indicate that the would-be presidential candidate could soon face a lawsuit if their name is found to be fake.
In itself, a television or film star running for political office in California is hardly newsworthy. After all, action film star and champion bodybuilder Arnold Schwartzanegger served as the state’s governor for eight years – incidentally, also on the GOP ticket. However, it is probably a first for an animated character, especially since Bikini Bottom is not in the United States.
However, everything about this story seems, well, fishy. For example, the person who filed the paperwork registered themselves as Perch Perkins, the famous field reporter for Bikini Bottom News in the TV show, and the address given is a Nickelodeon studio in Burbank, California. Also, the principal campaign committee is listed as the Krusty Krab, the restaurant where Spongebob works at on the show; its address is actually that of DirecTV’s corporate office in El Segundo.
The letter, of course, is entirely real, as the FEC verified to Sputnik, but the listed response date of April 1 – April Fools Day in the United States – only adds to the surreal nature of this story.
The rule was drafted after the 2016 elections in which more than 1,850 joke candidates appeared, some of whom garnered not-insignificant results in polls, such as Deez Nuts, who polled as high as 9% in some early presidential primaries.
Sputnik reached out to the email address listed on the FEC filing for the Krusty Krab, and this is the response we received:
On the extremely long shot that the jellyfishing, burger-flipping, gap-toothed sea sponge is, in fact, pursuing the nation’s highest office, Sputnik is ready to sit down for an interview at the earliest available time.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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