George Lopez Gives Opening Keynote Speech at the 2025 Social Impact Summit | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

George Lopez gives the opening keynote speech at the second annual Social Impact Summit, hosted by the Social Impact Fund and The Hollywood Reporter.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. It's nice to be here this afternoon.

00:11I believe that if we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves, I think that we are beginning to

00:19lose our place as humanity and in society. I mean, I think I know I'd look like Einstein

00:27if he invented the fucking churro. I want to thank the Hollywood Reporter and the Social Impact Fund

00:37for asking me to open the summit. I think I'm an entertainer, a comedian, a philanthropist in a

00:45sense. Also, I think where I live in Los Feliz, I don't think a lot of people think that there's a

00:55lot of racial profiling going on currently in Los Angeles. I mean, this morning, a neighbor left

01:01a note on my door saying to look out for a Mexican woman that was trying to get into my house.

01:08I think they saw me from behind.

01:10I left frail out, but it hurts nonetheless. The ironic thing is I really don't like to

01:23take any attention for the things that I do because I grew up around people that were just

01:28so ready to slap themselves on the back for the smallest things and they were all full of shit.

01:33I don't want to be full of shit. So I'd rather help without anyone ever knowing what I'm doing.

01:37I was doing weekend shows in Houston and, you know, we're drinking a little bit and I just saw

01:41this bellman going back and forth and I said, what's the biggest tip that anybody's ever given

01:46you? He said, some guy gave me $500 for carrying the bags up to the room. I said, $500? So I gave

01:52him six and I said, who gave you the five? And he said, you did last night when you checked into the

01:57hotel. So even when I'm blacked out, I'm generous.

02:02Uh, you know, what's going on politically is, uh, it's actually breaking my heart. And I will say

02:10this. I, I, I, uh, I got a visit from the secret service of the United States, uh, because I made a

02:18joke about Donald Trump. And the joke was that Iran had offered $80 million as a bounty. And on

02:25Instagram, I said, I'll do it for half. So they came to my house and they asked me, first of all,

02:38they know everything that we put on social media. So, uh, they said to me, do you, do you remember,

02:45uh, saying that, um, uh, when they're, they're not any secret service, uh, people, they asked me,

02:58they said, do you remember saying when Donald Trump called Mexico's rapists and criminals that

03:03when you saw him, you would rob him and fuck him? I said, uh, did I say that? And they took out the

03:10tweet and they showed me and, uh, I did. So then they asked me if they thought, if I thought that

03:14that was funny. And I said, like you guys, not right, not right now. I don't think when I did

03:20it, I thought it was hilarious, but right now. And then he asked me, did I, did I put down that

03:25if they built the border wall, that they better build it in a day? Because if they leave the

03:29material out overnight, it would all be gone. I said, I said that one, I said, so, I mean,

03:37I think we know what's going on. People take being taken off the streets, um, and maybe never

03:41being reunited with their families again. And, you know, we can't live in a world where

03:45that's, where that's okay. I mean, you should not wake up in East LA and then two days later

03:49be in the Sudan. I don't know. You know, people are okay with the detention center in Florida

03:55that they call alligator, um, Alcatraz. Uh, yeah, that that's heartbreaking. I think as a

04:02Latino, I think that the fences are there to more to protect the alligators than the detainees.

04:08Because, you know, as a Latino, you let them loose their fucking alligators will be shoes

04:11and belts in an hour. Stop making souvenirs out of the, out of the guards. But you know,

04:19the terror is real and everything that we're going through, uh, they will remember the rest

04:24of their lives. And when you're a kid being separated from your family, the only thing you

04:27should be afraid of is the dark. I mean, they're going to drop in hiding these people forever.

04:31And, um, for no other reason than for looking like, uh, like me, you know, being criminalized.

04:38The only crime that those people have committed is to do so much for so little money. So

04:42thank you.

04:45Uh, there are, there are people who rather be seen than not heard. So, uh, uh, philanthropy,

04:52thank you for everything that you guys are doing. Um, and it's really important and it does make a

04:57difference and it, it does change people's lives. You know, I, I went to meet a girl in the city of

05:02hope that had cancer and she was, um, um, toward, toward the last of her, of her life. And I don't

05:10think I've ever met anybody so optimistic. And so, um, just in the belief that she was going to get

05:16better. And, um, when I left the room, uh, the doctor was like now, uh, and, and, um, when she passed,

05:24you know, I said, what are they going to do? You know, uh, service or anything. And they were going

05:27to put her in a potter's field. And, and, uh, I said, no, you know, I paid for her, her funeral

05:33and I paid for a dress and I paid for her service. Her family couldn't afford. And, uh, um, in the

05:39two hours that I, that I talked to this girl, Christina, I think it, it changed my life. I don't

05:44think I would be the same, you know, and, and when I was growing up, you know, I, I was raised by my

05:49grandparents and they were really very quiet and unassuming people. And when we were 16,

05:54we went to a restaurant to eat and the waiter just kept going by and passing us by and,

05:58you know, everybody else was getting served and we were getting served. And, uh, I said,

06:02you know, Hey, what about us? You know, you're serving everybody else. You know, he goes away

06:05and says, we're busy. I said, yeah, but everybody else is getting served and not us. I would,

06:09you know, and my grandfather yelled at me for being disrespectful to the waiter. And I said

06:13to him, you know, if you're not going to stand up for yourself, uh, I will, because I can't

06:17live, um, and at that, like being disrespected like that for, I mean, if I, if I wasn't visible,

06:23that's different, but, uh, uh, and since then, you know, I've been very fortunate to receive,

06:30um, um, I have a foundation that does a lot of work with kidney, uh, kids and patients.

06:35So 20 years ago, I received a, uh, uh, kidney and I've been healthy for the last, uh, for the

06:40first time in my life for the last 20 years. So, uh, thank you. I don't know if it's going to last

06:46two months or 20, well, probably not 20 years, but I know that, uh, every day that I'm alive

06:50is a gift and every day that I feel good, I feel like I should help people. And, um, I'm,

06:55I'm, I'm honored to be here and I'm honored to be in front of you all. And let's all continue

06:59to be philanthropic. Let's all continue to, uh, represent and to give and not forget the

07:04people that are out there working hard every day and who just want nothing other than just

07:08to go to work and provide for their families. All right. Thank you very much. You guys have

07:12a nice event. God bless you.

07:20God bless you.

George Lopez Gives Opening Keynote Speech at the 2025 Social Impact Summit | THR Video

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