Hello Kitty Bombshell Ticks Off Fans

Anthropologist Christine R. Yano pissed off fans worldwide Wednesday at a Hello Kitty retrospective when she revealed that the company behind Hello Kitty, Sanrio, told her Hello Kitty is not a cat. “Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character,” she said. “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.” As is to be expected, Twitter users raced to express their shock, including Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, who tweeted, “I just got off stage to find out that Hello Kitty is not a cat. This is worse than finding out Pluto is not a planet.”