Hello Kitty is not a cat. Fans aren’t buying it

A Sanrio executive's claim has put the cat among the pigeons. Photo / Getty Images

An executive for parent company Sanrio set off a reaction after saying the iconic character with a cat-shaped head is a human third-grader from London.

She wears a big red bow on her cat-shaped head, her face has whiskers, and her name is Hello Kitty. But once again the iconic character’s parent company is saying she’s no feline.

“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Koch, senior vice president of marketing and brand management at Sanrio, told America’s Today show ahead of the brand’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. “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 is also her best friend.”

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

“So if she’s a little girl, how come her head is cat-shaped?” one commenter wrote on YouTube.

That sentiment was found across social media platforms as fans expressed playful disbelief.

“I can’t believe I’m being gaslit into thinking that’s not a cat. It’s a cat and it’s been a cat all my childhood,” a person wrote on X. On the same thread, someone else wrote, “That’s like saying Peppa Pig is not a pig but a girl.”

I was today years old when I found out hello kitty is not a cat. WHAT?

pic.twitter.com/uMv6CivC4M

— Today Years Old (@todayyearsoldig) July 20, 2024

On Facebook, users would not accept that Hello Kitty isn’t a feline, even going so far as to call it “blasphemy”.

“You can’t change our minds this late in the game. She’s a cat. Keropi is a frog ... and so on,” one person wrote. Then another person said: “I don’t care what anyone says. You’re not stealing my childhood. That’s it the END!”

Despite fans’ surprise, this week was not the first time Hello Kitty was identified as a human child.

Anthropologist and Hello Kitty expert Christine R Yano told the Los Angeles Times in 2014: “She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl … She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”

Back then, social media users were also stunned. “The world is crumbling before my eyes,” wrote one person.

Hello Kitty’s British, human storyline originates from the mid-1970s, when Sanrio, the Japanese toymaker, promoted her to Japanese women who admired Britain.

According to the company, her real name is Kitty White and she was born on November 1 in the London suburbs. She is a third-grader who enjoys making new friends, travelling and eating cookies.

Unlike many popular characters, Hello Kitty didn’t originate from a television show, movie or comic book. Her image started appearing on products in 1974, and her massive audience has grown since. The company says her trademark character is on about 50,000 products sold across 130 countries.

Singer Katy Perry has a tattoo of Hello Kitty on a finger. There’s been a Hello Kitty float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for several years. Fans can visit the Hello Kitty Land theme park in Tokyo. This weekend, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is releasing a limited-edition Hello Kitty ice cream flavour to coincide with National Ice Cream Day on Sunday.

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Last month, at a state banquet speech celebrating Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s visit to Buckingham Palace, King Charles gave Hello Kitty a special birthday greeting.

“Raised in a London suburb with her twin sister, a self-made entrepreneur worth billions of dollars, and a UNICEF Children’s Ambassador on top of all that,” the King said. “So I can only wish a very happy birthday to … Hello Kitty!”

Despite the uproar over Hello Kitty’s identity, Cook, the director at Sanrio, said her purpose has remained the same for half a century: “Her core message is friendship, kindness and inclusivity.”