In a scandal guaranteed to shake the fictional witching world to its core, turns out that Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Salem the cat weren’t actually BFFs in real life. “I’m a dog person,†said Melissa Joan Hart last night, at a launch party at Monkey Bar for her memoir Melissa Explains It All. As she explains in the book, there were a number of live feline stand-ins on the Sabrina set in addition to the animatronic Salem. “Being around that Salem cat too much … the set was covered in cat food,†said Hart. “So yeah, I can’t do cats anymore.â€
While we were disappointed to hear Hart slandering our favorite talking feline — on National Cat Day, no less — we were thankful that Caroline Rhea, a.k.a. Aunt Hilda, was there representing the pro-cat constituency. The stand-up comic and former Sabrina cast member showed up to the party wearing a silk dress emblazoned with a black cat. “It’s ridiculous, but I’m still drawn to things with black cats on them, I don’t know why,†said Rhea, who outed herself as the show’s resident cat person. “I was always the one who had to be mean to the cats, and I’m the one who, like, loves the cats the most!†she said. “I’d always be petting them.â€