Betty White to host SNL May 8
By Stephen M. Silverman, PEOPLE.com
March 11, 2010 12:10 p.m. EST
Facebook fans of Betty White got their wish: she will host a special Mother’s Day episode on May 8.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Betty White will officially host Saturday Night Live on May 8
This news comes after thousands of fans campaigned for White to get a hosting gig
White’s episode will also feature six former SNL women, most of whom are moms
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(PEOPLE.com) — It’s official: Betty White will host NBC’s Saturday Night Live on May 8, WNBC News announced Thursday morning.
Besides featuring the “Golden Girl,” who was the subject of a Facebook campaign to get her the gig, the special Mother’s Day episode will also reunite six former female “SNL” cast members, most of whom happen to be moms: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch.
The show’s creator-producer, Lorne Michaels, told USA Today that the Facebook campaign, which kicked in after White’s Super Bowl commercial for Snickers, “took on a groundswell. [White as the host] isn’t something we would have said no to, [but the campaign] validated that, ‘Oh, that’d be fun’ … It was the outpouring of affection from fans, and we feel the same way.”
And while White, 88, has no children of her own — except for her golden retriever, Pontiac — Michaels justifies her Mother’s Day appearance by explaining, “She’s the mother of us all in comedy.”