A surprised Ellen DeGeneres welcomed
Betty White to the gay community during her opening monologue at the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) 23rd
annual Media Awards in Los Angeles.
DeGeneres signaled to White, who was
seated in the audience, during the show's opening.
“I am very happy to be here for
GLAAD. Of course GLAAD is an acronym for gays and lesbians who
couldn't get tickets to Coachella. I think,” she joked.
“I heard that Betty White is here.
Betty White is here. Somewhere. I did not know you were gay.
Welcome sister. Wonderful.”
“I think all of us being here today
proves one thing. It proves that it's possible to have a gay awards
show that is not hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. It's rare, but it's
possible.”
“I don't come downtown a lot but I
wanted to be here because I'm so proud of the work GLAAD does. GLAAD
does amazing work. And with their help we've made a lot of progress
this year. Gay marriage is now legal in 6 states. Which means we
now only have 32 left to go. We're on TV more than ever. We're on
commercials. We're on magazines. We're on all over the media. And
that's just my JCPenney campaign.” (The video is embedded in the
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(Related: Josh
Hutcherson presented with gay advocacy award by Benicio del Toro.)