ABC Under Fire for Claiming Viral Cat Looks Like Baby Yoda

Thanks to Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Baby Yoda is quite possibly the most popular thing on the internet right now. The adorable 50-year old “baby” of whatever race Yoda was has inspired countless memes, fan art, and even people seeing the precious creature in everyday life such as their pets. However, ABC News is now under fire from fans on the internet for their story about a rescue kitten they claim is going viral for looking like Baby Yoda.

On Wednesday, the official ABC News Twitter account shared a story about a rescue kitten who has been going viral for a supposed resemblance to the very popular Baby Yoda. The story about the kitten is actually a touching one. According to ABC, the kitten first came to prominence after a veterinarian assistant named Jana Aviles shared a photo of the kitten at Cabarrus Animal Hospital in Kannapolis, North Carolina earlier this month. The kitten had been brought in as a rescue after being found as an injured stray. The cat’s unusual features — including very large ears — prompted the nickname “Yoda cat”. While the kitten has very clearly been through some trauma — she has scars and is missing her front teeth — Avila told Good Morning America she’s in good spirits and many people have offered to adopt her.

A rescue cat getting a lot of kind attention is always a heartwarming thing, particularly around the holidays, but that’s not what’s getting fan ire. It’s that the kitten is being compared to Baby Yoda that has fans a bit riled as most don’t think the kitten looks like the beloved The Mandalorian break out star.

The majority of the comments on ABC News’ post noted that they didn’t really see the resemblance between the cat and Baby Yoda. Several comments noted that the only real similarities between the kitten and Baby Yoda were the large eyes and large ears, but otherwise, it wasn’t even close. Others noted that the kitten did, in fact, remind them of someone — Dobby the elf from Harry Potter. A few people even noted that the kitten really looked more like Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker than Baby Yoda.

All of the fan backlash aside from the somewhat inaccurate comparison, people were glad to see the rescue kitten getting some attention. Many chimed in that while they didn’t agree with the comparison, they did hope the kitten did well and ended up getting a good home.

Now it’s your turn to weigh in. Do you think that this rescue kitten looks like Baby Yoda? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.