A Menudo Boy Bander’s Disturbing Link to the Menendez Brothers
Rolling Stone, May 2, 2023: A Menudo Boy Bander’s Disturbing Link to the Menendez Brothers
“Two sensational stories collide in Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, a new three-part documentary series airing on Peacock. One helped bring the culture into the era of nonstop TV crime and jurisprudence coverage: the grisly 1989 murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons, Erik and Lyle. The other involves the former Puerto Rican boy band sensation Menudo, and longstanding accusations of sexual abuse against the group’s Svengali and manager, Edgardo Díaz. The Menendez brothers, currently serving life in prison, have always maintained that their father raped them from the time they were small children. Now, a former Menudo member, Roy Rosselló, has claimed that Jose Menendez, then an executive at RCA Records (which signed Menudo to a multimillion-dollar contract), raped him as well, in the family’s New Jersey home. The implication in the docuseries is that Díaz offered Rosselló to Menendez as a means to seal the deal.
“It’s a sad, sordid story, told here with the kinds of reality-TV tropes – on-camera apologies, tearful reunions – designed for maximum emotional impact. But the series, directed by Esther Reyes, also suggests there’s plenty of fire to go with the smoke, even if the two components don’t always connect and it remains to be seen what the end result might eventually be.
“There’s a lot more Menudo than Menendez here, which is fine; the murder story has been regurgitated and dramatized ad nauseum for more than 30 years now, with the latest, upcoming sample, Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, just announced. Rosselló, by contrast, is a lesser-known figure. A Menudo member from 1983 to 1986, he claims he was continually raped by Díaz, who did not participate in the series, starting when he was 13. He is the main character here, a middle-aged man determined to have his voice heard and bring Díaz to justice. If he can somehow help the Menendez brothers along the way, by arguing that he, too, was raped by their father after Díaz delivered him to the Menendez residence, he’s more than willing to do that as well.”
Additional reading:
Esquire, May 2, 2023: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Everything We Know
The New York Times, April 18, 2023: Ex-Member of Menudo Says He Was Raped by Father of the Menendez Brothers
NPR, July 10, 2022: 'Menudo: Forever Young' follows the rise and fall of the Puerto Rican boy band
