George Lopez walks off the stage during stand-up performance after being overwhelmed by hecklers
PORTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA: George Lopez decided to walk off the stage after a bunch of hecklers got on his nerves.
The 63-year-old comedian was at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, over the weekend when some people from the audience got too loud during his performance.
What really happened during George Lopez's stand-up performance?
According to a video shared by TMZ, Lopez can be heard warning the crowd to quiet down multiple times before he decided to leave.
"Now seriously, I seem like an a--hole, I'm the one working,” he said after he told the audience they had already been warned twice. “Come on, please, just watch the f---ing show, that's all you have to do," he added.
Even after the hecklers didn’t budge, Lopez quietly put the microphone back on the stand and left the stage 30 minutes early, saying, “That’s cool, thanks,” before waving goodbye.
Lopez’s representative, in a statement, blamed the casino staff for the incident and their ‘failure’ to intervene.
"It’s the venue or casino’s job to provide a good experience for both the artist and the fans, but the casino failed in this regard. The audience was overserved and unruly, and the casino staff was unable to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for the artist and guests," his representative said.
"George’s personal security team worked with the venue security staff to maintain order, ensure safety, and eject disruptive individuals. Unfortunately, the casino security team was not adequate to accomplish this task," the representative added.
"George is not obligated to perform in an unsafe environment. He feels badly that those who came to see the show were unable to do so as a result," the representative further noted.
What did organizer say about George Lopez's walking-off the stage incident?
Meanwhile, the casino’s website released a press statement and accused Lopez of not following the protocol.
“Casino security and Lopez security team worked together to make sure there was no filming with phones as requested by Lopez,” the release read.
"It was the job of Lopez's private security team to inform casino security if they wanted to escort anyone out which never occurred. Under the casino's discretion, no guests were unruly or providing an unsafe environment," it added.
The venue host continued, "Mr Lopez or his private security had every opportunity to inform the casino team if they wanted a guest escorted out and they did not.”
“While we did see guests yelling out, we see recordings showing those saying – we love you, can we buy you a drink, etc,” Assistant General Manager Tiffani Sahagun added in a statement.
“We also know that at a comedy show, there are also likely some outbursts that casino security would have been happy to address had any issue been made known," she said.
She further noted, "We only want for our guests to have a safe and enjoyable experience, and we want our entertainers to feel safe and enjoy coming to Porterville as well.”
The casino spokesperson shared that there were two more acts before Lopez went on to perform and both the artists did not have any issues with the audience.
