Melissa Joan Hart managed to upset both cat people and Sabrina the Teenage Witch fans with a single Instagram video.
The actress, 49, took to Instagram on Thursday, February 19, to share a video of herself stroking a stuffed black cat with the words “when people ask me if I’m a cat person” on the screen. She then punted the stuffed cat across the room before the video quickly changed to her petting a real-life dog.
The video is scored by the theme music from her show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which ran from 1996 to 2003 and featured a talking black cat named Salem, voiced by Nick Bakay.
“No Salems were harmed in the filming of this silly video,” the Melissa & Joey alum captioned the video. “PS I like cats, but I love dogs!”
Despite her disclaimer, many took to the comments to voice their displeasure.
“This isn’t your best work still a fan but this was hard to watch,” one commenter wrote.
“This was unnecessary :/ People hurt black cats every day. This is not nice :/ Tasteless…” another added.
“Awwww but we all got black cats because of you!” one fan wrote.
“Not really a cat person either, but this wasn’t a nice thing to post,” another commenter wrote.
Shortly after the video gained some negative attention, the Drive Me Crazy star shared an update via an Instagram Story, filmed while she pedaled a stationary bike.
“Wanted to let you know, stuffed Salem is fine, it’s not the one from the show, it’s just one I bought on Amazon to go to Comic Con sometimes to have some fun,” she said, turning the camera to show the stuffed cat. “Look, he’s watching me workout, see. He’s totally fine. We’re all good over here.”
