About

Because I'm All Out Of Money refers to a series of edits based on a viral scene from SpongeBob SquarePants in which Squidward yells at Mr. Krabs that he's out of money. The scene became an increasing subject of meme edits on YouTube starting around 2017, becoming increasingly popularized in May 2023.

Origin

On May 20th, 2005, episode 64a of SpongeBob SquarePants aired, titled "Skill Crane."^[1] In the episode, Squidward tries and repeatedly fails to win a prize from a claw machine. At one point, Mr. Krabs asks Squidward if he needs change and Squidward says no. Mr. Krabs asks why and, frustrated, Squidward yells, "Because I'm all out of money!" (shown below).

On September 8th, 2017, YouTuber^[2] Majestic Blasian posted an edit of the scene duplicating it a million times, garnering over 555,000 views in six years (shown below). This is the earliest known memetic edit of the scene.

Spread

On December 3rd, 2017, YouTuber^[3] Gary the Snail posted an ear rape version of the video, garnering over 42,000 views in six years. On February 18th, 2018, YouTuber^[4] Baby Lamb Creations posted a similar edit, garnering over 100,000 views in roughly the same span of time. On May 4th, 2023, Twitter^[5] user @plasticityyyy then posted a version of the meme that gained over 8,100 likes in two weeks (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/MN7bLUtjwJ

— plastic (ity) (@plasticityyyy) May 4, 2023

On May 9th, 2023, YouTuber^[6] Pimentazeo posted a similar edit of the video that gained over 320,000 views in two weeks (shown below, left). On May 18th, YouTuber^[7] Hydraulic Beanbag posted a claymation-style reanimation of the video that gained over 35,000 views in four days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References