About

SpongeBob Wait, also known as SpongeBob's Flying Ice Cream Truck Scene, refers to a reaction image of the Spongebob Squarepants scene in which a flying ice cream truck falls over SpongeBob. The scene originally aired in March 2002, gaining viral usage online since early 2014 as an exploitable and reaction image on Twitter / X, Tumblr and Reddit, often applied to something a user said or posted before realizing it was controversial or that it had negative connotations without realizing.

Origin

On March 22nd, 2002, the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "SpongeGuard on Duty"^[1] aired in the United States. In a particular scene, SpongeBob declares that he is already as cool as Larry and that nothing but an airborne ice cream truck striking him down could prove otherwise. The moment was later shared on YouTube^[2] by user Caniscanemwurst on March 16th, 2012, amassing over 88,000 views and 1,700 likes in 13 years. (seen below)

Usage of the scene as a reaction image has been recorded on TinEye^[3] since August 18th, 2014.

Spread

SpongeBob's ice cream truck scene became a popular reaction image over the next decade, usually added in posts where a user made a mistake or is trying to convince others that they weren't aware of the circumstances involving a controversial topic they had made a post about. For instance, on August 26th, 2016, Redditor u/truedread posted a still image of the SpongeBob meme to the r/spongebob^[4] subreddit channel, adding the caption "I'm every bit as cool as Larry. And if I'm not, let me be struck by… a flying ice cream truck. AND LIVE!" The post (seen below) received more than 164 upvotes and 3 comments in nine years.

On November 28th, 2024, Instagram^[5] user @chillmyleg posted SpongeBob's wait meme as an image macro referencing the wait, they don't love like I love you meme, which amassed over 18,000 likes in eight months.

On June 17th, 2025, X^[6] @Trophloon used the same meme as a reaction, accompanied by the caption about not being aware that some artist he follows had grooming allegations going viral. The tweet (seen below) amassed over 4 million views and 88,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References