I love being irreverent. But I hate being irrelevant. I love being irreverent because at the end of the day your actions belie your intentions.
It's people politics, people dynamics that make a show really good, whether it's 'Desperate Housewives' or 'Lost' or 'The Sopranos.' It's the people we've grown to love or otherwise.
I remember doing 'La Bamba' and thinking, 'Do you really think that Latinos will be accepted in mainstream?' and I said, 'Someday I hope so, but there is no guarantee.'
I like the Beatles. They're at the core of my musicality. And John Lennon's my spiritual father.
If you don't look like the ruling class, bring your inhaler.
We understand 'Roots,' and that experience was mind-boggling, and it changed the way society viewed race relations. It was incredibly important. With 'Roots,' I was just as proud as anybody else that people of color were getting their stories told.