On November 26, Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of Spongebob, passed away after a battle with ALS. Fans of the beloved cartoon were distraught, and from this sadness, a petition was born.

Israel Colunga, a Spongebob fan, created an online petition to have the song Sweet Victory sung at the halftime show for Super Bowl 53.

“As tribute to [Stephen Hillenburg’s] 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 [Super Bowl] halftime show,” says Israel on why he wants Sweet Victory sung at the popular event.

Sweet Victory is the song sung in the episode ‘Band Geeks’ when Squidward’s band performed surprisingly well at the Bubble Bowl.

899,131 people have signed the petition, and that number is growing by the minute. New people are singing up every 30 seconds. The goal is for 1 million people to sign the petition, and then Sweet Victory would hopefully be sung at the Super Bowl halftime show. The current number is not far from its goal, it probably will reach 1 million within a few days.

On the bottom of the website page, there is a section called Reasons for Signing. This is where the fans state why they signed the petition.

“…I want [Sweet Victory] played at the Super Bowl to honor the man who gave us one of the greatest and most quotable cartoons of all time. His legacy should be honored for all the laughs and smiles his precious creation gave us both as children and as adults,” says Jonathan Hersey on why he signed the petition.

The story has gained a lot of media attention. There is an article about the petition on Sports Illustrated.com – Sweet Victory petition is the first topic that comes up.

The process to signing the petition is simple, write down your first and last name and email. Then, for the petition to get on the agenda, it is voluntary to chip in $3 or any higher amount of money.