It all started with a 29-year old man living in San Antonio around New Year’s Eve. He created a simple, and even polite Facebook page called “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!” The initial goal was to find at least 5,000 fans and then share the feedback with the executive producer of SNL, Lorne Michaels, hoping this would inspire SNL to feature the octogenarian as a Saturday Night Live host.
Near the end of January, the page hit the original goal of 5,000 fans, after about a month, and as promised, the Texan mailed his letter off to the big city. Coincidentally, this is the same timeframe in which the Facebook campaign went viral, with the number of fans skyrocketing to over 200,000 in just under two weeks.
The effort on Facebook has been featured in People, the Associated Press, and even NPR. And, apparently, the argument was compelling based on reports of a confirmed appearance by Betty White herself, who has declined comment to this point. On Sunday night at Elton John’s annual Oscars viewing party, when approached by People, White confirmed the news and indicated she was surprised herself. But in true Betty fashion commented, “I don’t know why or how, but it’s been wonderful.”
This recent confirmation comes just a few weeks after a story that Entertainment Weekly shared on February 21, claiming that Betty White would appear on Saturday Night Live in conjunction with some former SNL cast members Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Molly Shannon in a “Women of Comedy” episode. People reports that SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels has denied that.
But, really who could deny nearly 485,000 Facebook fans? Definitely not dear, sweet Betty.
Written by: Sara Paxton, managing partner, CTO, and Social Media Officer of Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency, a boutique agency located in Overland Park, KS that specializes in traditional marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, and public relations.