Betty White Reflects on Gay Following

Golden Girls star Betty White reflected on the popularity of her show with gay audiences, saying that she believes the gay community “seems to like old ladies, they always have.”

The seven-time Emmy winner, currently starring on TV in Hot in Cleveland, spoke with WNYC host Leonard Lopate last week. He asked White whether she was surprised by the large gay following that the Golden Girls enjoyed and her popularity in the gay community.

“I think the gay community seems to like old ladies, they always have,” she said. “And when we were on live with Golden Girls on Saturday night they'd shut down the music, stop the dancing, watch the show, then turn the music and the dancing back on. We were very grateful and they've been dear friends.”

White, 89, recently released the memoir, If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won’t), in which she addresses the Facebook campaign that helped persuade her to host Saturday Night Live last year. Listen to the wide-ranging interview with Lopate at WNYC, where her brief comments on the gay audience begin at the 19:50 mark.