Sanrio would like to remind you that, no, Hello Kitty is not a cat (but she isn’t human either) (VIDEO)

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — If you didn’t know, Sanrio’s adorable mascot Hello Kitty will be celebrating her 50th anniversary this year come November 1.

What many people might still not know is that Hello Kitty is not actually a cat. Sanrio’s director retail business development Jill Cook said plainly in a TODAY interview: “Hello Kitty is not a cat.”

What is she then? Cook said, “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.”

This might be news to many people but not to diehard Hello Kitty fans. Some have pointed out that Sanrio has confirmed Hello Kitty’s real identity as far back as 2014, with Sanrio correcting Christine Yano, curator of a Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, when she had mistook the mascot for a feline.

Yano told the Los Angeles Times:

“I was corrected – very firmly. That’s one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. 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.”

Despite that, it seems many people have not received the memo.

Yet another user pointed out in another statement given by Sanrio to a SoraNews24 reporter, that the context of Hello Kitty might be misunderstood. The beloved icon isn’t a cat but she’s not technically human either.

Hello Kitty is, according to the Sanrio rep: 擬人化 (gijinka) or an anthromorphisation, like for instance, Donald Duck, who is duck-like but not technically a duck.

In the article, it was also confirmed that Hello Kitty has a mouth. It’s just not drawn.

Whatever she is, cat or human, she is definitely an icon.