AP Photo/Marcio Jose SanchezSamuel L. Jackson has a very personal reason to help his comedian pal George Lopez raise funds and awareness for the National Kidney Foundation.
“Sam has a niece that had a transplant,” George told me this morning. “If I had two kidneys, I would have tried to give his niece one. When Shaft calls, you do what you can to help out.”
Lopez then beamed, “His niece is doing great now.”
And so is Lopez. It was about three years ago when he received one of his wife Ann’s kidneys when doctors found that he suffered from a genetic kidney disorder.
Since then, the Lopezes have been spokespeople for the National Kidney Foundation and on May 5, Lopez will host the first National Kidney Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic at the Lakeside Golf Club in L.A.
Jackson is just one of many of Lopez’s friends who will hit the links, which will benefit the foundation's children services. Others celeb players will include Don Cheadle, Ray Romano, Andy Garcia, Kevin Nealon, Anthony Anderson, D.L. Hughley and Oscar De La Hoya.
“De La Hoya is fighting on May 3,” Lopez said. “But his biggest fight will come May 5 when he will try to keep from getting drunk while he plays with my group. I get guys from the bar to come out and bring us the George Lopez Silver Patrón margarita. It tastes a lot like Country Time.”
On a more serious note, Lopez would like to see organ donation legislation turnaround in the U.S. “In Europe, its presumed consent,” he explained. “If you’re in an accident, they take your organs unless you have a letter saying you do not want to donate. In the U.S., they throw away your organs unless you say you want to donate.”
It’s a matter of life or death, Lopez argues. “In one city in Italy, there was a boy who had an accident, and his body saved eighteen people! If there was one thing about kidney disease that I could change in our country, that would be it.”
Speaking of change, I had to ask Lopez about this year’s presidential election. Even if he’s getting some slack in the Mexican-American community for doing so, Lopez is backing Barack Obama. “For Mexican-Americans, it’s like you’re going against your family drinking Bud,” Lopez cracked. “They know the name Clinton and they love it. But this Clinton is not that Clinton.”