Comedian George Lopez is being accused
of using an anti-gay slur against Mitt Romney, the presumed
Republican candidate for president.
During a stand-up routine to be
broadcast on pay cabler HBO, Lopez, a Mexican-American, said Romney's
attempts to win the Latino vote would fail.
“Mitt Romney wants the Latino vote.
He ain't going to get it. He ain't going to get it. And you know
why? Because Mitt Romney's a fucking Latino and won't admit it. His
father was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Mitt Romney is a Chicano but
he won't admit it. … If you want our vote puto, come out of the
closet. Get a hairnet and lean back, ese,” Lopez joked.
“And while we're at it: Sheriff Joe
[Arpaio] in Arizona ... fuck you, you fucking puto,” he later
added. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.
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The word “puto” in Spanish means
male whore but it could also be used to describe a cowardly man –
and that could mean effeminate or gay. The literal translation for
“fag” in Spanish is “maricon.”
Gay GOP group GOProud criticized Lopez
for the joke.
“This is just the latest in a long
line of liberals who get a free pass for using gay slurs,” Jimmy
LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, said in a statement. “If
a conservative had said that about a liberal politician, the gay left
would be chaining themselves to a nearby fence!”
Lopez “should apologize, but like
other liberals who say such stuff like that he won't be under any
pressure to [do so.]”