Kylo Ren may be the most evil force in the galaxy in the biggest movie of all time, but he also makes for a pretty adorable cat.
Kylo is the new name of a cat who was put up for adoption last Friday on the Monmouth County, New Jersey, SPCA’s Facebook page.
By the end of that weekend, Corey the cat’s adoption post received thousands of likes and shares, most of which can be traced back to an observation by Marci Robin: the cat with its striking ears and nose, looked a lot like Adam Driver, who memorably portrays the villain Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Others on social media noticed the same thing and “Grumpy Cat” suddenly had a rival for favorite cat on the Internet, resulting in hundreds of stories and posts about Corey.
“There were comments saying he looked like Yoda, Dobby the Elf and of course Kylo Ren,” noted Lindsay Sanator with the SPCA, who added that the resemblance was not immediately noticed by her fellow employees until the post went up.
“Within the Facebook comments there was a Photoshopped image of Corey’s head on Kylo Ren’s body among stormtroopers. Within 24 hours Corey’s photo had almost 1,000 shares and almost 1,000 retweets, over 500 reddit comments and featured on several viral media websites.”
One of Robin’s friends also noticed Corey and instantly fell in love. Emily McCombs of Brooklyn, who didn’t have a driver’s license, living over 50 miles away from the shelter, adored the cat right away, regardless of his newfound celebrity status.
“I happened to see her tweet as it was starting to pick up steam, so I always knew that he was connected to the actor. But when I saw his face, I immediately fell in love,” she said.
However, the difficulty in getting there, as well as the fact that he had already been claimed, made it seem like “an impossible dream.”
When the other potential owners had to back out, however, McCombs did whatever she could to adopt the cat.
“I put out an alert on Facebook for anyone with a car willing to drive me to meet Corey, and an amazing friend drove me out to the shelter the next morning,” she said.
“I wasn’t even totally sure if Corey would still be available when I got there, but I knew I had to try.”
She signed the adoption papers and soon after noticed that her cat was everywhere on the Internet. After several suggestions, she settled on naming him Kylo Ren.
“People are happy that Kylo’s story promotes animal adoptions and brings attention to great shelters like the Monmouth shelter, which is in a dire place financially and desperately needed the attention to stay alive,” she said.
And like any cat with Internet fame, he now has an Instagram that already reached 8,000 followers within 48 hours.
McCombs is more than happy to share the photos as well.
“Kylo’s looks are so unique and adorable, but he really has a very special personality as well. He’s the sweetest, snuggliest cat I’ve ever met — more like a dog, really. “
Through all the Kylo fans she has met online, she’s even found a woman who owns a cat who resembles him a little, which (spoiler alert) “I guess would make him Han Solo.”
McCombs has also said that Driver is more than welcome to meet his feline lookalike.