CNN’s Chris Wallace Asks George Lopez Why He’ll Sometimes ‘Make It Racial’ When Shows Get Canceled
CNN anchor Chris Wallace asked comic and actor George Lopez the “pointed question” of why he’ll sometimes “make it racial” when one of his shows gets canceled, citing a 2007 statement in which he said “TV just became really, really white again” after it was replaced by Cavemen.
Lopez told The LA Times:
‘I get kicked out for a…caveman and shows that I out-performed because I’m not owned by [ABC Television Studios]…So a…Chicano can’t be on TV but a…caveman can?’ Lopez said. ‘And a Chicano with an audience already? You know when you get in this that shows do not last forever, but this was an important show and to go unceremoniously like this hurts. One hundred seventy people lost their jobs.’
Wallace interviewed Lopez for this week’s edition of his Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on a variety of topics, including politics.
After delving into politics, Wallace turned to a sensitive area by warning he was about to get “pointed,” and asked Lopez if he really thought his show’s demise was due to racial factors:
WALLACE: So I have a pointed question to ask you. I’m just going to tell you, one of the things I’ve noticed is that when your shows are cancelled, whether it was the talk show whether it was the sitcom and and you know, shows and TV get cancelled, that you sometimes make it racial, that after one of those shows was canceled. You said TV just really became white again.
LOPEZ: Yes, that was 2007.
WALLACE: Do you really think that’s what it was about the canceling?
LOPEZ: Um, I… Well, you know, they replaced me with a caveman show on ABC, (I know), so I would probably say, no, but TV did become whiter. I would say it’s to two part answer. I don’t think that it was racially motivated. I think it was financial.
But I do think that TV became whiter that day. So So yes, and no. But for us to get a show, it’s a big thing, Chris, you know, and and for somebody else to get a show is a big thing.
So, you know, if I fail, I fail for everybody. But if another actor fails, who’s not Latino, they just can go to another show to maybe to another network, it just becomes harder for us.
So when we go away, I think it hurts a little bit more, it strikes a little bit strikes a little bit deeper than when you really care about something. You You know, you plant your flag,
I think that part of it is, I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that race has nothing to do, because it’s not true, but it doesn’t have everything to do with it.
Watch above via Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.
