Actor and comedian George Lopez faced charges for battery this past October after a scuffle with an enthusiastic Trump supporter. Lopez stopped by a Hooters restaurant in Las Cruces, New Mexico while he was in town to film a movie. He was working on the film Walking with Herb , alongside co-stars Edward James Olmos and Kathleen Quinlan. While he was taking a break at the restaurant, he was reportedly taunted by a man who repeatedly shouted the MAGA slogan. The man reportedly knew of Lopez’s intense disapproval for Trump and had hoped that he’d be able to get a reaction out of him. Lopez was brought to his breaking point when the man began filming him with his cellphone. The supposed victim claims Lopez tried to rip his phone out of his hand and grabbed his neck, according to Celebrity Insider .
The video from the incident was later leaked to social media. The man taunting Lopez can be heard yelling, “Here comes by man George. Look at him, George wants to fight me,” before the video is interrupted by Lopez snatching the phone away. Meanwhile, Lopez can be heard asking the man to stop and trying to get him to turn the video off.
However, when the court date came up in regards to the trial, the victim never showed up and didn’t give a reason why. As a result, the Las Cruces Municipal Court has decided to dismiss the case, a huge relief to Lopez.
George Lopez battery case dismissed in Las Cruces Hooters fight https://t.co/G3aiwOpRrk pic.twitter.com/OORp4LfTXz
— El Paso Times (@elpasotimes) December 14, 2018
The comedian is a known opponent of Trump, and he has been very vocal about his lack of approval for the president. Lopez had particularly harsh things to say about the president’s campaign prior to the election. Like many mainstream comedians, he used the Trump campaign as the butt of nearly all of his jokes.
When prompted by paparazzi, he was recorded condemning Trump’s statements regarding Mexican-American immigrants. “Listen, those comments are vile in any civilized society. But, you know, there’s the freedom of speech. I know him, I don’t particularly like what he’s saying but he has a right to say that. But there is a better way to start a conversation,” he said. He continued by expressing his opinion that people should not take their right to vote for granted.
“People were brutalized and abused for the right to vote. Women, people of color, minorities. We should, as Americans use our right to vote.”