Is it cool to hate cats now?

By Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — It is an irrefutable truth: the Internet loves cat videos.

Now, a pair of well-known personalities have taken it upon themselves to publicly oppose the felines that inspire all those adorable and zany clips, issuing statements that have clearly elicited, er, catty responses.

On Monday, Doechii chose violence on Threads, where seemingly out of nowhere she shared her pointed thoughts on the now-domesticated animals once sanctified in ancient Egypt.

“People act like it’s a crime to dislike cats when they genuinely aren’t friendly animals,” the Grammy-winner wrote.

“They don’t wanna be domestic just leave em alone! Like it’s not organic I’m sorrryyy be fr it’s rare that cats are immediately lovey without years of pain and work put in,” she continued, before mentioning that cat owners are “scratched and beat tf up” by their own animals.

Doechii felt so strongly as to then engage with many shocked and disappointed users in the comments, standing her ground with replies like, “If i tell a cat owner to lift they arm sleeve rn they’ll be tore up,” before somewhat relenting when she commented “pretty eyes” on one of the many, many images and videos that her followers shared of their cats being, in fact, friendly and lovely.

The cat hate continued this week when a clip resurfaced from late last year that showed “Hamnet” costars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley sharing their distaste for cats after being posed the low-hanging-fruit question of whether they prefer cats or dogs.

“Dog,” Buckley replied immediately, and when the “conviction” in her answer was pointed out, the Oscar-nominee elaborated by saying “cats are mean” before sharing a story that caused some claws to come out.

Prefacing it, perhaps rightfully so, with the proviso that the anecdote is likely to get her “canceled,” Buckley explained how when she was dating her now-husband Freddie Sorensen, he had two cats, including one who “staged a coup” against her.

“I’d come home, and there’d just be, like, poo on my pillow,” she explained, before mentioning the choice she presented to her future spouse: “It’s me or the cats.” As a gleeful footnote, she shared, “I won!”

Naturally, the ultimatum caused something of a maelstrom online, giving way to Reddit threads expounding on her “abhorrent” behavior, while some cautiously proposed that while it’s ok to not love cats, one should definitely not share that dislike so publicly.

While our canine companions indeed carry the affectionate moniker “man’s best friend,” it is undeniable that cats are a permanent and dynamic fixture of our culture (not to mention many of our homes), whether it be in the politicization of cat ladies or the furtive existence of cat dads.

But are we allowed to freely hate on cats now? What if the tables were turned and famous people started sharing their loathing for dogs?

“Meow!” wouldn’t even be the half of it.

The-CNN-Wire
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