Hello Kitty is not a cat, Sanrio says, sparking fan anger

The character has a boyfriend and has her personal pet cat, named Charmmy Kitty.

“So if shes a bit woman, how come her head is cat formed?” one commenter wrote on YouTube.

That sentiment was discovered throughout social media platforms as followers expressed playful disbelief.

“I can’t imagine I’m being gaslit into considering that’s not a cat. It’s a cat and it’s been a cat all my childhood,” an individual wrote on X. On the identical thread, another person wrote, “That’s like saying Peppa Pig isn’t a pig however a woman.”

On Fb, customers wouldn’t settle for that Hi there Kitty isn’t a feline, even going as far as to name it “blasphemy.”

“You may’t change our minds this late within the recreation. She’s a cat. Keropi is a frog … and so forth,” one individual wrote on Thursday. Then one other individual mentioned, “I don’t care what anybody says. You’re not stealing my childhood. That’s it the END!”

Regardless of followers’ shock, this week was not the primary time Hi there Kitty was recognized as a human youngster.

Anthropologist and Hi there Kitty knowledgeable Christine R. Yano instructed the Los Angeles Occasions in 2014, “She’s a cartoon character. She is a bit woman. … She’s by no means depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”

Again then, social media customers have been additionally shocked. “The world is crumbling earlier than my eyes,” wrote one individual.

Hi there Kitty’s British, human storyline originates from the mid-Seventies, when Sanrio, the Japanese toymaker, promoted her to Japanese girls who admired Britain.

In accordance with the corporate, her actual identify is Kitty White and she or he was born on Nov. 1 within the London suburbs. She is a third-grader who enjoys making new buddies, touring and consuming cookies.

In contrast to many widespread characters, Hi there Kitty didn’t originate from a tv present, film or comedian e book. Her picture began showing on merchandise in 1974, and her huge viewers has grown since. The corporate says her trademark character is on about 50,000 merchandise bought throughout 130 nations.

Singer Katy Perry has a tattoo of Hi there Kitty on a finger. There’s been a Hi there Kitty float within the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for a number of years. Followers can go to the Hi there Kitty Land theme park in Tokyo. This weekend, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is releasing a limited-edition Hi there Kitty ice cream taste, to coincide with Nationwide Ice Cream Day on Sunday.

Final month, at a state banquet speech celebrating Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s go to to Buckingham Palace, King Charles gave Hi there Kitty a particular birthday greeting.

“Raised in a London suburb together with her twin sister, a self-made entrepreneur price billions of {dollars}, and a UNICEF Kids’s Ambassador on high of all that,” the royal mentioned. “So I can solely want a really pleased birthday to … Hi there Kitty!”

Regardless of the uproar over Hi there Kitty’s identification, Prepare dinner, the director at Sanrio, mentioned her goal has remained the identical for half a century: “Her core message is friendship, kindness and inclusivity.”