Debate prompts Garfield creator to clarify cat's gender


              FILE - In this Nov. 27, 2008, file photo, the Garfield the Cat helium balloon appears to be peering at a Chicago Transit Authority worker on the elevated tracks inside Chicago's famed Loop during the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago. Garfield creator Jim Davis sought to quell a controversy over the cat's gender by telling The Washington Post on Feb. 28, 2017, that the cat is male. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 27, 2008, file photo, the Garfield the Cat helium balloon appears to be peering at a Chicago Transit Authority worker on the elevated tracks inside Chicago's famed Loop during the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago. Garfield creator Jim Davis sought to quell a controversy over the cat's gender by telling The Washington Post on Feb. 28, 2017, that the cat is male. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Garfield's gender has become the subject of an internet debate.

The Washington Post reports (http://wapo.st/2m0vwOR ) Wikipedia locked changes on the animated cat's page after the site's volunteer editors battled over whether the animated cat is male or not.

The controversy bubbled up two years after Garfield creator Jim Davis told viral content site Mental Floss that as a cat, Garfield is "not really male or female."

Davis sought to clear up the controversy this week, telling the Post that "Garfield is male" and has a girlfriend named Arlene. Davis' spokeswoman tells The Associated Press that he also told the Post he likes animals because "they're not perceived as being any particular gender, race, age or ethnicity" and says the "humor could be enjoyed by a broader demographic."

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