George Lopez recently admitted during his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live that his gift-giving skills were so immaculate that the late Prince forgot that he was a Jehovah’s Witness.
Despite conflicting reports, it was revealed that Prince, who grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist, became a Jehovah’s Witness around 2001 to 2003. It is also reported that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate holidays or birthdays, but it is unclear if individuals within the religious practice can accept gifts outside of those occasions.
When Kimmel asked Lopez if he typically purchases his gifts around this time of year for Christmas, the comedian responded that he doesn’t. Lopez also joked that when he generally gives gifts, it makes people go against “their religious beliefs.”
“I don’t do it but when I do give gifts there are really good gifts. People love it. My gifts are so good they can someone go against their religious beliefs.”
When Kimmel asked Lopez to clarify his statement, the star shared that when he had his own late-night show TBS’ Lopez Tonight, he gave Prince, who was a guest in 2011, a hat wrapped up in a white box. Lopez shared that the “Purple Rain” singer was initially reluctant to accept the gift because he was a Jehovah’s Witness.
Lopez said,
“When I had my show, I gave Prince, the great Prince a white box that had a hat in it but he didn’t know what was in it. So I said ‘hey Prince I got you something.’ He says ‘I am a Jehovah Witness George and I can’t accept gifts.’ I said ‘Okay.’ He’s looking at it out of the side eye. I said ‘at least look at it.’ He says ‘I can’t the gifts I’m a Jehovah’s Witness.’… And then he lifts the box up and almost like a spring loaded purple feather comes out.”
The Lopez vs Lopez star added that when Prince was made aware of the gift, he put it on and started walking around with it like the fictional character George Jefferson. Lopez shared,
“So he takes it out and it’s this purple beautiful brim and he hit the brim and he put it on like George Jefferson and he walked in front of me… And I said ‘too bad you can’t keep it.” He said, ‘oh no I’m keeping this one.'”
Later in the interview, Lopez provided details about his friendship with Prince, including the “Kiss” vocalist offering to be his bible study teacher to limit the amount of profanity the George Lopez star uses. Lopez also revealed that he once purchased shoes for Prince because he expressed how much he liked them after seeing the actor wear them.
Prince died in 2016 from a fentanyl overdose.