Garfield Wikipedia debate forces creator to clarify cat’s gender

Garfield is known as the lazy, lasagna-eating orange cat but some fans who thought the cartoon character could also be gender fluid led to a 60-hour Wikipedia edit war.

Podcaster Virgil Texas started the great debate when he cited an interview Garfield creator Jim Davis did for Mental Floss in 2014.

Davis claimed, “by virtue of being a cat, really, he’s not really male or female or any particular race or nationality, young or old.” Texas took that admission to mean Garfield had no gender and the internet exploded.

A 60-hour Wikipedia edit on the famous cat’s page followed with Garfield’s gender changing to “none” and citations and entries flooding the site. Things got even more serious when someone with a congressional IP address removed Garfield from Wikipedia’s list of male cartoon characters.

Wikipedia eventually stepped in and put the page on lockdown to keep further edits from being made.

Washington Post reached out to Davis for comment and Davis’ publicist confirmed “Garfield is male” and “has a girlfriend, Arlene.”

Texas accepted the clarification and says the information is “a victory for what matters most: cannon.”

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