Internet Discovers Hello Kitty Isn’t Actually a Cat

The world will never be seen in the same way again… Hello Kitty is not a cat, she is a girl.

Although it has been known for years, it was only recently that thousands of people discovered that the beloved character Sanrio is actually a little girl and that she even has a cat, Charmmy.

The big reveal went viral on social media when The Today Show posted a video with surprising facts about the beloved cartoon character in honor of her upcoming 50th birthday, since she was created in 1974.

Sanrio’s Director of Retail Business Development reminded presenter Savannah Sellers that Hello Kitty is a girl whose real name is Kitty White, who was born in a suburb of London (and walks on two legs, unlike her kitten, who bears striking resemblance and likeness to her).

The big news first went viral in 2015 when Hello Kitty had her own museum exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Even the exhibit’s curator, Christine R. Yano, believed she was a cat.

“That’s a correction that Sanrio made to my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She’s a little girl. She’s a friend. But she’s not a cat,” she explained to The Los Angeles Times. “She is never depicted on four legs. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have her own cat, though, and her name is Charmmy Kitty.”