Some people are only just learning that Hello Kitty is not a cat

Global icon and childhood favorite character Hello Kitty is known for her distinctive appearance as a white cat, with a red bow and an expressionless face.

However, you may be shocked to hear that the adorable fictional character is, in fact, not a cat at all.

Famously pointed out in a Saturday Night Live skit that set in a fictional Hello Kitty store in New York, the cast claimed that the character was not a cat, but actually a little girl.

One of the skit’s characters - shocked by the revelation - asks: “Why did you say Hello Kitty is a human little girl?”

Credit: Derek Teo / Alamy

To which, another character replies: “According to the creators, Hello Kitty is a human little girl.”

And although some viewers initially believed that the bizarre fact was made up for the show, it turns out that it is actually true!

Watch the skit here:

The Japanese character, produced by Sanrio, is not - and has never been - a furry feline.

When writing about Hello Kitty for an exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum, anthropologist Christine Yano, referred to her as a cat. However, Yano was “corrected - very firmly” by Sanrio, she told The Los Angeles Times.

“Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend,” Yano continued.

Even after the skit aired, some fans still disagreed, with a recently online Twitter poll showing that 81.4% of people still believe Hello Kitty is definitely a cat.

But, Yano explains: “She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”

Although, one determined Twitter user commented: “But she’s got whiskers” next to the suspicious-faced emoji.

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To confuse matters more, Hello Kitty also has “a pet cat of her own” called Charmmy Kitty, according to Yano.

In fact, the character has an entire backstory, including the fact that she was “born in the suburbs of London,” according to the Sanrio website.

“She has a twin sister. She's a perpetual third-grader. She lives outside of London. I could go on,” said Yano.

Reactions to the news were mixed but most fans were simply in shock.

One Twitter user certainly didn’t want to believe the truth after realizing what it meant for her tattoos:

Hello Kitty was first created in 1974 by Yuko Shimizu and started life on a coin purse. Despite being created in Japan, she was designed to be British because Japanese people were interested in Britain at the time, as claimed by the website Tokyo Treat.

The character arrived in the US in 1976 and became the worldwide phenomenon she is today... just don't try put her in a litter box.

Featured image credit: Cristian M. Vela / Alamy