One of the reasons White is so famous is because she advocated for a black dancer in the 1950s, before the Civil Rights Act was implemented.
For her NBC show “The Betty White Show,” White hired a black tap dancer named Arthur Duncan to be a regular.
This made TV stations in the heavily segregated South angry, and some of them tried to get people to stop watching the show.
But, when confronted with criticism for having Duncan on the show, White remained unfazed.
“I apologize, but he remains.” “Live with it,” White famously said, giving him additional air time.
Due to a lack of advertisers, NBC eventually cancelled the show in 1954, but White’s support of Duncan helped give him a national platform, which led to many more possibilities.
Duncan continued to be a trailblazer following his appearance on White’s show. Duncan was the first black guy to join Bob Hope’s USO unit, which entertained US soldiers, in 1957.
