Ex-'Blue's Clues' host Steve Burns addresses 'abrupt' exit, sends the internet sobbing with message

Children of the '90s and the 2000s took a trip down memory lane as Steve Burns, the original "Blue's Clues" host, sent a message to all his fans who grew up with him. It left the internet sobbing.

As "Blue's Clues" celebrated its 25th anniversary, it released a video on social media Wednesday, wherein Steve appeared after nearly two decades since his departure from the show.

In the video, Steve addressed his "abrupt" exit and reached out to his fans, harking back to old days, saying "Remember when you were younger, we used to run around and hang out with Blue and find clues and talk to Mr. Salt and freak out about the mail and do all the fun stuff?"

"And then one day I was like, 'Oh hey! Guess what? Big news. I'm leaving," Steve continued. 

He said he realized "that was kind of abrupt."

"I just kinda got up and went to college — and that was really challenging by the way but great because I got to use my mind and take a step at a time and now, I literally am doing many of the things that I wanted to do," he said.

Steve reached out to his audience and expressed how proud he was for everything they've accomplished since the last time they saw each other. From looking out for clues, they're now dealing with student loans and jobs and families.

"I wanted to tell you that I really couldn't have done all of that without your help and in fact all the help that you helped me with when we were younger is still helping me today right now and that's super cool," Steve said.

"I guess I just wanted to say after all these years, I never forgot you...ever. And I'm super glad we're still friends," he added.

As if he was eager to put a cherry on top, he complimented the viewers' appearance before he left the screen.

His message, of course, not only trended online but also left many netizens emotional. A Twitter user with the handle storymodebae even shared a meme of a person crying while smiling and said, "Not Steve being proud of me."

Another user with the handle JanuaryAndOn posted another meme of a man crying as a reaction to when Steve said it's been kind of hard. The netizen wrote, "You're right, Steve."

Meanwhile, netizen lilollme shared a meme of a crying cat as a reaction to when Steve said that he never forgot them and wrote, "OOOOoooo..."

As of writing, Steve's video message has garnered 7.4 million views and 566,300 likes.

Steve hosted "Blue's Clues," a Nickelodeon show that showcases an animated dog named Blue who joins the host in his adventures with his handy-dandy notebook, from its premiere in 1996 until his departure in 2002, which was explained by his character leaving for college. He was then replaced by Donovan Patton as Steve’s younger brother Joe. Donovan hosted the show until it went off air in 2006.

In 2019, the show was rebooted as "Blue's Clues & You!" with Fil-Am Josh dela Cruz as the host. The three hosts last came together for the rebooted premiere episode.

As Nick Jr. celebrated the 25th anniversary of "Blue's Clues," the three hosts reunited again for a series of videos. — Kaela Malig/LA, GMA News