Tom Kenny found it "hilarious" when people thought he was dating Ariana Grande.
The 62-year-old voice actor has played the titular role of the cartoon character in 'SpongeBob SquarePants' since 1999 but when pop megastar Ariana, 31, struck up a relationship with Ethan Slater at a time when he was starring in the Broadway musical adaptation of the Nickelodeon series, it led to some confusion amongst fans.
He told E! News: "That was hilarious. It said ‘SpongeBob actor dating Ariana Grande.’ And people were like, ‘Wow, Tom Kenny, he’s a player'."
The former 'Futurama' actor - who is married to Jill Talley - joked that he and the 'Into You' hitmaker had been "trying to keep a lid" on their affair for so long and that they eventually became a "throuple" in the end, until his wife clarified that he is "not dating" the pop star.
He said: "I was like, ‘How did they find out?’ “Ariana and I have been trying to keep a lid on this explosive secret. Ariana and I didn't want Ethan to find out. Then he did and it was just a whole big ugly mess. But now we’re a throuple. So, it's awesome."
But Tom is actually on good terms with Ethan because of how he gave him advice when he was preparing to bring his most famous role to life on The Great White Way.
He said: "I know I know Ethan well. When he was training for the part, he came to Nickelodeon and we got to know him during the process and I saw the show when it was in previews in Chicago."
"He just knew exactly what to do. SpongeBob was a part of his formative stages. So he had his own definitive take as far as SpongeBob's physicality and all that, which he had to do live on a stage. That was crazy and he was able to do that because he's a very athletic person. He can sing and he's very athletic."
