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In article <t0g4qu$2e9ho$[email protected]>
<[email protected]> wrote:

Are all leftists perverts? Yes they are. Gay too.

Before Ricky Martin was �Livin� La Vida Loca,� members of his
former boy band Menudo � one of the biggest Latin groups of all
time � were living a nightmare.

In a new documentary, Angelo Garcia � who joined Menudo just
after he had turned 11 � said he was raped during his 1988-90
stint with the quintet. He details the sexual assault � which he
said took place in his hotel room after he was given alcohol by
an undisclosed man � in �Menudo: Forever Young,� a four-part
docuseries that premieres on HBO Max Thursday.

�All I remember was that I, like, passed out. When I woke up, I
was naked and I was bleeding, so I knew that I had been
penetrated,� Garcia said in the documentary. �I had, like, these
burn marks on my face from the rug � I was very confused and I
didn�t understand.�

That wasn�t the only time Garcia said he was molested during his
tenure with the group. �During my time in Menudo, I was raped a
series of times, and that was the way that predators would take
advantage of me,� he said in the documentary.

Other members of Menudo � which featured 32 different boys
during its initial 20-year run � also claimed they endured
sexual abuse, as well as bullying, drug scandals and oppressive
working conditions in �Forever Young.� Such negligence and
exploitation, they said, took place while they worked for the
boy band�s mastermind, Edgardo D�az, who is described as �their
manager, producer and father surrogate.� (D�az, who did not
respond to requests for an interview or comment on the
allegations in the documentary, has always denied any abuse and
any wrongdoing in his management of the group.)

�We were pawns of his business,� said Ray Acevedo, who was in
Menudo from 1985 to 1988.

�Forever Young� recounts how D�az�s brainchild, Menudo, was born
in Puerto Rico in 1977. D�az adopted a �Fountain of Youth
strategy� for the group, where members would be replaced once
they turned 16. Parents of the boys � many of them poor � would
sign over much of their parental authority to the manager.

After first exploding in Venezuela and going on to cause
�Spanish Beatlemania� in the US, Menudo found its most famous
member, Martin, in 1984. �Ricky, from the beginning, was like
the golden kid,� says Acevedo.

But Martin � who is not interviewed in the documentary � didn�t
make life so easy for other members, according to Sergio Blass,
who was in Menudo from 1986 to 1990.

�To be with Ricky was brutal because he had seniority over me,�
Blass said. �So if someone knocked on the door, I had to open
it. If the phone rang, I had to pick it up. I was like his
housewife.� (Representatives for Martin did not respond to The
Post�s request for comment.)

Indeed, there was plenty of bullying in Menudo � Acevedo even
recalled being held over a balcony by another member � and
hazing of new guys. Without getting proper supervision and even
security, the boys were also exposed to drugs, including
marijuana and cocaine.

�One time we were in Colombia,� recalled Blass in the
documentary. �I�m with [fellow Menudo member] Rub�n [G�mez], and
we�re getting to the hotel. We enter our room. All of a sudden,
this random guy comes in � And he pulls out what must have been
about a kilo of cocaine � So we freaked out, because we didn�t
know this person � But the guy was actually one of the producers
and promoters.�

Blass and G�mez got kicked out of Menudo after they were busted
for marijuana possession in 1990. But new members kept coming
through the revolving door.

Andy Bl�zquez, who was in the group from 1991 to 1997, recalled
in the documentary feeling uncomfortable with the �extreme
sexualization that happened from the very beginning � like
overly sexualized jokes that you shouldn�t say in front of
children. I remember Edgardo saying, �You know the pleasure that
you get when you�re pooping? That�s what anal sex feels like.� �

Other members have previously accused D�az of sexual abuse,
including Roy Rossell� in a television appearance that is shown
in the documentary. It�s also alleged in the documentary that
D�az was surrounded by unsavory men who would prey on the boys.

But the Menudo heartthrobs were also pounced on by an endless
parade of young groupies.

�They had to be escorted out of my room because there was
another one waiting, and the first one didn�t want to leave,�
said Blass. �As a teenager, I thought, �Wow, this is so cool.� �

https://nypost.com/2022/06/23/menudo-movie-hbo-max-forever-young/

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