Menudo

My friend Mr. Wikipedia tells me that Menudo means “little” in Spanish and “loose change” in Puerto Rican Spanish. I always thought it was a soup my neighbors made at Christmas that had pig feet in it. Menudo to some men apparently meant “come here little boy and let me touch you”. Read on.

Born in Panama City, Panama in 1947, Edgardo Diaz created Menudo in Puerto Rico in 1977. The group became one of the biggest Latin boy bands ever. I knew about the group during the 80’s but wasn’t into them. I remember making fun of a silly song of theirs about a shopping mall. Maybe it was a cannonball. I don’t know. They were cute, but their music did nothing for me.

Creator Diaz required the boys of Menudo to be baby-faced, innocent, angelic, and attractive. How convenient. His “secret formula” for the group’s success was to hire them when they were young and then release them when they turned 16. What a nice little rotation of young boys he created for him to feast on. I mean for him to create a great band.

Members

Probably the most famous member to come from Menudo (at least here in the States) was Ricky Martin. Enrique Martin Morales was born on December 24, 1971 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He grew up in a Catholic home and was a sweet little altar boy until he joined Menudo in the 1980’s. Ricky replaced longtime member Ricky Melendez in 1984. After five years with the boy band, Ricky left Menudo in July 1989.

Red flags should have been going up from almost the beginning. Maybe there were. I don’t know. Some members were asked to leave the group because of their voice changing or a growth spurt. I guess that means the “music group” wasn’t about music but about their look. They were a gimmick. Other members would suddenly quit and break their contract. Ralphy Rodriguez left the group in 1987 after less than a year when his parents pulled him out. They cited “improper treatment by management” which was code for stop touching my boy. Thank god there were some parents around who saw what was going on.

Abuse

In 1991 a friend of the group said that nine of the boys of Menudo had been abused but were too ashamed to admit it. That’s nine that the friend knew about. How many more were there? The friend accused three men of the abuse though creator and promoter Edgardo Diaz took the brunt of the accusations. It appears that drugs and alcohol were given to the boys on a regular basis and that Diaz would organize the parties. Is the drinking age in Puerto Rico 12?

Years later in 2014, former members Roy Rossello and Ralphy Rodriguez talked about the sexual abuse. Rossello said, “At the last party I went to, Edgar made Ricky [Martin] dress up as a woman.” Later that year, former member Rene Farrait spoke out but did not give specifics. It was more of a read between the lines type of thing. He said, “Unfortunately, there are many people in the communications world that really know what happened (at Menudo) and are playing stupid.” He didn’t come out and accuse Diaz but said, “He knows perfectly what happened there.”

The following year Angelo Garcia spilled the beans. BTW, have you seen what this young man grew into? Oh my. Do yourself a favor and do a search on current pix of Angelo Garcia. Yum. Anyway, Angelo wasn’t quite 11 when he auditioned for Menudo. He didn’t reveal the person who molested him but said this person would come into his hotel room to play cards with him (this was during the time Angelo was 11-14 years old). They would take shots of whiskey and Angelo would wake up the next morning naked. He said the abuse happened the entire time he was in the band.

In Closing

This whole story reminds me of Tam Paton, the manager for the Bay City Rollers. Seems he liked the young boys too. I always wondered why that group went through so many personnel changes. Lou Pearlman, creator of some of the biggest boy bands ever, also seemed like not quite the stand up guy.

With the Coronavirus pandemic happening right now, I really should have focused on a happier topic. This story about Menudo (which I didn’t know of at all until I researched for this blog) has depressed me even more.

Please come back! I promise to be more positive next time! Stay safe and healthy. Go wash your hands and then check out my Menudo items available in my eBay store.