George Lopez’s new sitcom on FX is called Saint George, but that doesn’t mean he’s making any apologies.
Earlier this year, Lopez vowed to be more direct and honest after receiving a mean tweet on Twitter.
“... I got a very negative ‘go back to Mexico’ tweet,’” the 52-year-old comedian said in a recent interview.
“I’m an American citizen. I responded as I would as myself. Since that day, I decided to be a little more honest with social media. ... I decided to take a little bit more of an aggressive approach. I was losing followers, about 1,000 a week. I was like, ‘Why am I losing like a noticeable amount?’ Since Super Bowl Sunday ... I’m sure I’ve gained 55,000 followers.”
His new mantra was put to the test recently when he was photographed lying on a casino floor after going on a drinking spree in Ontario, Canada. The photo went viral, and Lopez faced what happened head on — by making a joke.
“Tied one on last night. Not feeling great this morning. I was trying to sleep it off, unfortunately, it was on the casino floor,” he said in a statement issued after the incident.
“I owned it and moved forward and would do what any comedian would do, [which] is to make fun of it and move past it. It really kind of took the air out of it,” he says.
“... To give up drinking and have people know holds me accountable. But nobody is gonna hold me more accountable than I hold myself, so a lot of times ... somebody will say, ‘Did you have a drink last night?’ And you answer or you don’t answer, but their assumption of my life isn’t as important as the reality of my own life ... I’ve had enough alcohol really in my life. I don’t intend on [drinking], but it is fun to kind of see people’s opinions on how I should live my life.”
Lopez marvels at how people use social media as a way to judge others. “I would not consider myself a judge of someone else’s life, and social media gives some people a licence to comment on other people’s lives. It’s fascinating,” he says.
On Saint George, Lopez plays a recently divorced successful entrepreneur who’s trying to balance a busy life and a demanding family.
“It’s more about kind of my life right now,” says Lopez, who divorced wife Ann Serrano in 2011. They have one daughter.
Lopez says if ratings hold in the first 10 episodes, the show will get an additional 90-episode order.
“In the 10 episodes, if we hold the number or look like a show that people want to watch, then we’ll continue, and if it doesn’t, then it won’t continue.”
