Honoring Betty White
By: Rishi Gurudevan
I have to admit: I don’t watch 80’s sitcoms on the regular, nor sitcoms in general, but Betty White had a much larger impact on the world than just her accomplished television career. This Golden Girl’s actions spoke volumes about equality, justice, and progress, and her passing is an immense tragedy.
Betty White was best known for her roles in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show '' as Sue Ann Nivens and Rose Nylund in “Golden Girls.” She has won 5 Primetime Emmy Awards and 2 Daytime Emmy Awards. White is the only woman to have won an Emmy in all of the performing comedic categories.
She has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to her late husband Alan Ludden, who was also an accomplished performer. He hosted the game show “Password,” on which the couple met. White was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. She is widely viewed as one of the most prolific performers of the 20th century, and was still very impactful in the 21st.
Although her work was prominent in an era of America far more different and racist than ours, Betty White never strayed from her personal values of equality. In 1954, “The Betty White Show” was criticized for featuring a Black tap dancer named Arthur Duncan by many far-right communities in the deep South. When her producers asked her to take him off of the air, Betty responded “he stays, live with it.” At the time, this statement was outrageous.
Throughout her life, no matter what the consequence, White stood with the Black community. She refused to back down, and as a result, her show was later canceled. After her passing, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and various other prominent organizations and figures who oppose racial injustice paid their respects on social media to recognize her early struggle against bigotry.
White was also a strong supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. “Oh, I don’t care who you sleep with, it’s what kind of a human being are you,” she said in a 2014 interview with Larry King, another well-respected television personality who passed away in 2021. She advocated for same-sex marriage in a 2010 interview with Parade: “If a couple has been together all that time – and there are gay relationships that are more solid than some heterosexual ones – I think it’s fine if they want to get married. I don’t know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don’t worry about other people so much.” Within her role in “Golden Girls,”
White was able to utilize her fame to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the 1990’s. In a 1990 episode entitled “72 Hours,” Betty’s character was informed that she may have been exposed to the disease. This was one of the first times the disease was ever mentioned on broadcast television. At the time, many people denied the very existence of HIV, much less associated it with such a familiar face on the screen.
The area where White was possibly the most influential was promoting animal rights. Her main work was at the Los Angeles Zoo, where she worked tirelessly for decades ensuring the safety and healthy living conditions of the animals. She served on the Board of Directors for 50 years. She first became interested in the subject when she produced the 1970’s show “The Pet Set,” which showcased celebrities and their pets. She has donated millions to organizations such as the aforementioned Los Angeles Zoo, The Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Organization, and Actors and Others for Animals.
If I could choose any celebrity who truly embodies Exeter’s motto of non sibi, Betty, without a doubt, is the first one that comes to mind. From putting her reputation and career on the line in favor of standing up for Arthur Duncan and in turn the entirety of the Black population in America, to using her platform to raise awareness for a heavily stigmatized disease that was receiving little to no recognition and as a result basically zero medical attention, we can all take a page or two out of her book. By putting everyone before herself, human or not, Betty White embodies qualities that every Exonian should strive to have.
