For the last six months the media has been buzzing over the rumored publication of an unauthorized biography of Hello Kitty by Kitty Kelly. The rumors were confirmed yesterday when Simon & Schuster announced it would release "Cute at Any Cost: The Hello Kitty Story" in early July to take advantage of the summer vacation reading season.
However, it turns out that the author is not high-priced celeb muckraker Kelly, but rather high-priced celeb apologist-for-hire Andrew Morton, thus giving rise to further buzz as to just how "unauthorized" a biography it is.
Portions of the book have already been leaked to prominent members of the media. Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, who was sent several chapters by a messenger dressed as Ultraman, was the first to voice suspicions in her March 5 column. "Some of the conversations are obviously reconstituted," she wrote, "but it would have been impossible to do so without the participation of Her Royal Cuteness."