He promised Mexico.
He got Los Angeles.
During the 2016 campaign, George Lopez joked that if Trump won, Latinos “will all go back to Mexico.” Trump won. Lopez stayed in Los Angeles. After election night, Lopez posted an image on social media depicting a decapitated Trump-like figure. The image was later deleted. Lopez did not move to Mexico. He remains in the entertainment industry and resides in the United States. The irony is complete.
“We’ll all go back to Mexico.” They didn’t.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, George Lopez — comedian, actor, talk show host — made a pointed joke that encapsulated Hollywood’s certainty that Donald Trump would not win the presidency. When asked about what would happen if Trump won, Lopez said: “If he wins, he won’t have to worry about immigration, we’ll all go back to Mexico.”
The joke was reported by Fox News, US Magazine, and entertainment outlets as part of the broader wave of celebrity anti-Trump statements in 2016. It was framed as comedy — and treated as such. But the underlying premise was shared by a significant portion of Hollywood: Trump would not win, and if he somehow did, the consequences would be so dire that even self-deportation made more sense than staying.
“If he wins, he won't have to worry about immigration, we'll all go back to Mexico.”
George Lopez — 2016 presidential campaign · Reported by Fox News, US Magazine
Trump won. George Lopez did not go back to Mexico. He is still in Los Angeles. He has continued working in television, film, and stand-up comedy. The joke did not age particularly well — and Lopez graduated to a second incident that is less easily categorized as comedy.
After election night, he posted the cartoon.
After Trump won the election in November 2016, Lopez posted on social media a cartoon image depicting a decapitated Trump-like figure covered in blood. The image was widely circulated and reported on by Fox News, The Wrap, and the Daily Caller before Lopez deleted it.
This placed Lopez in the company of a significant group of public figures who responded to Trump’s election with imagery or rhetoric involving violence or death — including Kathy Griffin’s severed Trump head photos (May 2017), the NYC Public Theater’s production of Julius Caesar featuring a Trump look-alike being stabbed (Spring 2017), and Madonna’s remark at the January 2017 Women’s March about thinking of blowing up the White House.
Two incidents. Both documented. Neither retracted.
Lopez made this joke repeatedly during the 2016 campaign in interviews and stand-up appearances. It was reported by Fox News, US Magazine, and multiple entertainment outlets. Trump won. Lopez did not move to Mexico. He remained in Los Angeles.
After election night, Lopez posted a cartoon image on social media depicting a decapitated Trump-like figure covered in blood. The post was widely circulated and reported by Fox News, The Wrap, and Daily Caller. The image was later deleted but screenshots circulated extensively.
The pattern is consistent with the broader Hollywood TDS record: a public figure makes a dramatic statement about Trump, Trump wins (twice), the dramatic statement proves empty, and the public figure continues their career in the United States without acknowledging the contradiction. George Lopez made the Mexico promise in 2016 and posted a violent cartoon in 2016. He is currently in Los Angeles. Mexico remains unvisited.