The Sponge

"The Sponge" is the 119th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the ninth episode for the seventh season. It aired on December 7, 1995.

Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer are at Monk's Café and they mention that Jerry still wears a size 31 pair of jeans. Kramer also mentions the female contraceptive sponge is being taken off the market. Kramer passes both of them an AIDS Walk sheet for them to sign. While reading the list of signatures Jerry sees a girl's name (Lena, played by Jennifer Guthrie) whom he once met, but does not know her unlisted number. Jerry takes down the number and calls the girl. George and his fiancée Susan get into a fight about sharing their secrets; in order to get back into her good graces, George tells her that Jerry does not actually wear size 31 jeans.

Meanwhile, Elaine goes on a 25-block radius hunt to find the contraceptive sponges. When she finally arrives at a pharmacy which still carries them, she purchases a full case at Pasteur Pharmacy from a pharmacist named Roger Hoffman (David Byrd), who acts a little suspicious since Elaine wants a whole case. Her limited supply requires that she restrict her usage. She puts her current boyfriend, Billy (Scott Patterson), through a rigorous examination to make sure he is "sponge-worthy". Jerry tells George that he found his new girlfriend on the AIDS Walk list. George then tells Susan against Jerry's wishes. Susan then tells her friend, who tells a friend until the phone tree reaches Lena. When George comes to Jerry's apartment, Jerry tells him that he is "out of the loop" because he told Susan about Jerry. When Jerry later learns from Lena that she doesn't mind him taking her number from the AIDS Walk list, he gets turned off from her being "too good" and that he doesn't want to be with someone who is "giving and caring and genuine concerned about the welfare of others."

When Kramer takes part in the AIDS Walk, he refuses to wear an AIDS ribbon in opposition to "ribbon bullies", led by Bob and Cedric from "The Soup Nazi" episode. (The storyline appeared to be based on the real-life controversy of former Days of Our Lives actress Deidre Hall, who (in 1993) publicly refused to wear AIDS ribbons at public events, such as the Daytime Emmys. Hall claimed that the volunteers who passed out the ribbons bullied celebrities into wearing the ribbons.) When they and several walkers confront Kramer about the ribbon, he states he doesn't want to wear it since he lives in America, culminating in the group to attack Kramer; he attempts to flee up a fire escape, but is dragged down and attacked.