How is Hello Kitty not a cat? Revelation that the beloved character is actually a little girl leaves the internet dumbfounded

The beloved cartoon character Hello Kitty is not a cat, contrary to popular belief, but rather a little girl. The revelation happened on July 18 when Jill Cook, the Director of Retail Business Development of Sanrio, Kitty’s flagship brand, told Today during an interview:

“Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s actually a little girl born and raised in the suburbs of London. She has a mom and dad and a twin sister Mimmy – who’s also her best friend. She enjoys baking cookies and making new friends… She weighs three apples and is five apples tall,” Cook shared.

The revelation came amid the fans of Hello Kitty preparing for its 50th anniversary on November 1, 2024, and has now left the internet dumbfounded.

Here are some of the reactions from X.

Some expressed their “shock” and insisted that it was indeed a cat, adding that people need to stop reinstating that she was a human and not an animal.

“That’s a cat. Trust me, I know my cats,” a netizen wrote.

“I’m shocked,” another netizen wrote.

“Whoever starts the Hello Kitty discourse every year that she’s not a cat… you need to stop,” one individual wrote.

Meanwhile, some argued that Hello Kitty exhibited more than one feature of a cat, including having whiskers.

“How is it not a cat? It has whiskers and cat ears,” a person wrote.

“A little girl with whiskers?” another person asked.

Others simply refused to accept that Kitty was a girl and not a cat and even claimed that it might be a joke.

“I’M SORRY… DO WHAT NOW?! HELLO KITTY IS NOT A CAT?” a fan asked.

“I refuse to listen to that information,” another fan wrote.

“It must be April Fool’s Day or something,” an individual wrote.

During her chat with Today, Jill Cook also explained that the reason Kitty transcended borders, languages, and cultures, was because of her core message which is based on three pillars, “friendship, kindness, and inclusivity.”

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Hello Kitty is a little girl who has a pet cat called Charmmy Kitty

Hello Kitty was born in the hands of Japanese designer Yuko Shimizu on November 1, 1974, as an anthropomorphized white cat with a signature red bow, no visible mouth, and whiskers whose real name is Kitty White. She appeared a year later when she came out in the form of a Japanese coin purse.

As per her backstory, she lives in the London suburbs with her family, including twin sister Mimmy (depicted by a yellow bow), parents George and Mary, grandparents Anthony and Margaret, and a pet cat Charmmy Kitty.

She is known to have a boyfriend named Dear Daniel. She also has a close friend named Tiny Chum, who is a little teddy bear with a red bow and was a gift from Daniel.

Kitty White loves traveling, reading, and baking. Her favorite food is the apple pie made by her mother, and she dreams of becoming a poet or a pianist by profession.

Notably, this is not the first time it has been revealed that the fictional character is not feline but rather human. In 2014, it made headlines around its 40th anniversary when anthropologist Christine R. Yano was rectified “very firmly” by Kitty’s flagship company Sanrino that she was a little girl and not a cat.

Yano, who wrote Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, mistook her identity while preparing for an exhibit titled “Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty” at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, which triggered the correction.

Upon realizing his error, the University of Hawaii-based anthropologist even offered an explanation to the LA Times during an interview.

“She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty,” he noted.

He also went on to explain that in the 1970s when Kitty White was born, Japanese women and children “loved the idea” of Britain and its culture, which is why she was made a British to suit the "taste" of the time.