Wednesday, May 16: Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters plays on the Geico caveman slogan with a swipe at George Lopez – Pulling the Race Card: So Easy a Comedian Can Do It.
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The “Chicano” comedian George Lopez is being excoriated in the comment section of this story. After a five-year run, his series, “The George Lopez Show,” was canceled.
He said, “TV just became really, really white again.”
Hardy-har-har! That’s funny stuff, man. (Imagine a white basketball player released from a team saying, “The NBA just became really, really black again.”) Instead of being grateful that his show made it to TV in the first place and survived for five years — and he made a ton of money — Lopez plays that tired, worn, dingy old race card. He wasn’t explicit, but he gets the point across. From the story:
Lopez said he attributed the cancellation in part to the fact that the show is produced by Warner Bros. Television, and not ABC Television Studios. Using some colorful language that cannot be printed in a family newspaper, Lopez scoffed in particular at another ABC pickup: “Cavemen,” about two brothers and one best friend, described as sophisticated cave dudes living in modern-day Atlanta, who will continually find themselves at odds with contemporary society.
“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.”
It’s sad that certain people just can’t see past their own skin color. As a commenter on the story noted, while some minorities blame racism for a show’s cancellation, who or what is to “blame” for their shows getting picked up in the first place? Do minorities take all the credit for the good things but blame others for the bad?
That we’re prone to blame others and point elsewhere when we fail probably is instinctual. Resisting the urge can be tough. That’s why no matter how rich or talented or powerful a minority may be, there is always the temptation to fall back on race or racism as an excuse for why something didn’t work. I’ve been tempted myself. 
As for Lopez, it seems that his “Chicano” shtick got old. I’m glad comments are open on this article because the feedback is quite entertaining. I hope Lopez reads it. Examples:
“Are cavemen white?”
“I am Mexican-American, and I suspect race had nothing to do with The George Lopez show being canceled – it just wasn’t funny anymore and the ratings probably sucked. In the beginning, my family and I would watch the show every week. We were proud that a Chicano had his own show, and we thought the show was funny too. However, after only a few years we found the subject matter had begun to show Mexican-Americans in a negative light (as if we need help doing this) with George’s underage daughter shacking up with her boyfriend and all those other demeaning story lines. I mean, I am proud of my culture and the idioms we sometimes use, but I can only take so many ‘Orales’, and ‘Watchas’, and bug-eyed stares from George. We were offended and embarrassed, so we simply stopped watching. George Lopez is still funny and I think he should simply move on.”
“I am glad this silly show was cancelled. The reason I am glad is due to George’s stand up routine called ‘American Mexican’ where his vulgarity against the President of the United States hits an all time low. Also in his routine he stands with and justifies all the illegal aliens breaking the law in this great county. The country that provides the opportunities for him to make millions of dollars. He showed his utter disdain for America and all of us who call ourselves Americans – by the way I am part latina…”
“Whites are not permitted to even speak about race – that is how all the anti-White double-standards are allowed to exist unchallenged…Let’s speak about how Black the NBA is…”
“That show was funny the first season and half, but you can only play on the same Mexican-American stereotypes so many times before it’s just not funny anymore – and this show just isn’t funny anymore. Shame on George for hiding behind his ethnicity. Try producing a quality product, and the cavemen wouldn’t be knocking you off your pedestal.”
“Wrong again George. It had nothing to do with your race. Leaving an unfunny ‘comedian’ on the air for five years is the ONLY crime here. And the viewers are your victims. You steal jokes and don’t have any original material. If anyone is being racist it’s you.”
“All his whining about TV now being “whiter” is stupid and shows what kind of person he is. Is he saying that white people aren’t funny? If he feels that way, he should begin investing his time (and money) into finding funny Hispanic actors and writing quality scripts for them.”
“Place the race card, George, don’t worry that your show was a snoozer. It was about race every episode. People get sick of that. Seinfeld wasn’t about being white. Cheers wasn’t about being white. That’s why they stuck around so long. They were funny. The cosby show wasn’t about being black, at least not most of the time. But George Lopez show was about being ‘Chicano’, all of the time. Boooring!”
“I can’t stand this race-blaming victim mentality. Grow up George. I use to like your show. You’ve discredited yourself and future Chicano show biz wanabes. I am Asian American and am tired of hearing other races blame the white race. I never see any Asian ‘role model’ on TV or elsewhere yet can someone explain why Asian students do so well in school and why Asains as a group do so much better than the other races? I guess that’ they key – we think TV and blaming others is a waste of life.”
“I’m sick of minorities always playing the race card whenever things don’t go their way. I’ve been fired. Unfair things have happened to me. I don’t believe there is some huge conspiracy top keep me down because of my race. Yes, there are individual racists in this country. There are racists in every country and among all the races. But there is no institutionalized racism in the United States. Minorities do awfully well here. We see it all around us everyday. Your show was canceled because it wasn’t making money. Just like any show full of white people would be under the same circumstances. You’re being treated fairly instead of being treated special. What a concept.”
The comments are more interesting than the story!
