Betty White Petitioned To Appear In Charlotte For 2012 DNC; Kal Penn Hosting

By Tom Herrmann | September 04 2012 2:39 PM

Betty White is a cultural phenomenon in particularly high demand for someone of her age. The 80-year-old actress/comedian is popular among both older and younger age demographics, and has been petitioned to make appearances on shows like "Saturday Night Live" and even the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C..

Reuters

Actress Betty White accepts the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series for "Hot in Cleveland", at the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California January 29, 2012.

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A petition on Change.org simply titled "Democrats: Ask Betty White to Introduce President Obama at the DNC" looks to gather 10,000 signatures in support of having Betty White give a speech supporting President Barack Obama at the DNC. The group created by Peter Slutsky of Brooklyn has acquired 8,612 online signatures as of 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

"Clint Eastwood, the Republican's 'mystery guest' at the RNC, gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere with his absurd and awkward-to-watch introduction of Governor Romney," reads the petition description. "Governor Romney can have Clint Eastwood and his improvisational skills because President Obama has the one and only Betty White!"

Democrats on Change.org, as well as Facebook have been rallying to get the "Golden Girls" star to attend the DNC in Charlotte after Clint Eastwood delivered a bizarre speech in favor of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney at the 2012 Republican National Convention. When Eastwood took the stage at the RNC, he angrily addressed an empty chair representing Mr. Obama.

The fallout of the event has caused criticism of the speech, the suggestion to bring Betty White in to support the current president at the Dems convention, and even the internet meme "Eastwooding."

The Christian Science Monitor is encouraging Dems to stop "Eastwood-hating" as they call it. "[The convention] was a week ago, which is an era in political time," writes the Christian publication.

CNN has reported that a representative of the beloved icon is saying that White has no intentions of attending the event. The show will brandish some star power, with Actor Kal Penn of "Harold and Kumar" and "House" heading to Charlotte to host the 2012 DNC.

Penn left his actoring career for a brief period from 2009 until 2010 to take the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, using his birth name, Kalpen Modi while working for the White House. He was written off of "House" which he starred in at the time, but resigned from his position before filming the threequel "A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas."