The line comes from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Something Smells, first aired in 2000, where bad breath convinces SpongeBob that everyone finds him ugly. Patrick encourages him to accept it, leading to the repeated shouted declaration. The scene became a long running meme about self acceptance played for laughs, and the German version, hässlich und stolz, spread separately on German soundboards and in edited clips. Its popularity comes from the contrast between the harsh words and the proud, almost heroic way SpongeBob delivers them.