Former Menudo member alleges Menendez brothers' father raped him

[Coventina]

Boy band Menudo returned to the spotlight last year with a documentary series, in which members alleged years of abuse by the people in power around them. Now, former Menudo member Roy Rosselló is levying rape allegations against Jose Menendez, whose murder by his two sons gripped the nation three decades ago.

A jury convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez in 1996 of murdering their parents, Mary Louise "Kitty" and music executive Jose Menendez, in 1989.

The brothers were found guilty in spite of their defense of committing the act out of fear after years of sexual molestation at the hands of their father. They received a sentence of life in prison without parole.


Now, almost 30 years later, Rosselló, a former member of Menudo – the group that brought Ricky Martin his start – is alleging that their father drugged and raped him in an upcoming documentary series called "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed," set to stream May 2 on Peacock.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/04/18/menudo-member-alleges-father-lyle-erik-menendez-rape/11688524002/

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Wow! Growing up in the 80s as I did, Menudo was HUGE in the teenybopper set. I was never a fan, but I saw their faces everywhere while perusing music periodicals on the newsstands.
This is terrible to learn about those boys and what they went through.

Maybe the Menendez brothers' sentences need to be reconsidered?

Just horrible!

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Why? Kitty didn't do anything and they merciless murdered her.

[yardwork]

4. Maybe they thought she should have protected them.

[MLAA]

6. Maybe she could/should have done more to protect them (assuming the sexual abuse charges

are true)

[sinkingfeeling]

8. That's a capital offense?

[yardwork]

12. I'm not defending murder. Just saying why the boys might have done what they did.

You asked why.

[jstephenj]

16. I agree...

What they did to the mother goes beyond any acceptable conduct. It was pure evil. Unlike the father, she was aware of what was about to happen to her and tried to escape. Yet even after she was hit with multiple buckshots to her legs, arms, and torso, she remained alive. One of the brothers (Lyle) had to reload his weapon to deliver the killing blow and it was a close range shot to the face with bird shot. As far as I'm concerned, the brothers are where they belong.

Imagine doing that to your mother and then calling the police and claiming that the mafia did this and then eulogizing her with the grandest plaudits at her funeral and then character assassinating her as a pedophile on a witness stand four years later.

[lisa58]

2. Why now? Why didn't he come forward when they were on trial?

I’m not saying it’s not true, but why not at least let the prosecutor know that others had the same experience

[yardwork]

5. It's very difficult for survivors to come forward.

[lisa58]

7. I agree - but he would have only corroborated their experience

[yardwork]

11. Yes, it's sad.

[Coventina]

9. Especially male survivors of rape.

Other factors are the feelings of helplessness due to age, and also the very "machismo" oriented nature of much of Latinx culture.

I don't find it hard to believe that it would take decades for it to come out.

Look how long it took for the abuses of the Catholic church to come out!

[jimfields33]

3. I thought the boys got a raw deal.

It’s like the jury ignored the rape or at least molestation that occurred. I’m not saying complete innocence. But 25 years would have been appropriate.

[viva la]

10. Not clear what Menendez had to do with the group?

[wishstar]

13. He was the RCA music executive who signed Menudo group when this kid was 13 yrs old

[Raine]

14. Menendez was a music executive nt

[jstephenj]

15. The brothers have been desperately trying to secure a retrial for years...

This is their latest attempt at doing so. They know they'll never get a pardon from Governor Newsom, so they're trying to leapfrog their way past Governor Newsom's purview by laying the groundwork for an appeals at the ninth circuit court. To date, the brothers have exhausted all their appeals but they claim to now have new evidence supporting their claim of sexual abuse in the years since in a Barbara Walters segment that aired in 2008. What the brothers are seeking is a retrial so they can be convicted on lesser charges than the first degree double murder charges they were convicted of in 1996. So if they were to be retried today and convicted of manslaughter they could technically be released for time served. It's the courtroom equivalent of winning the presidency through the electoral college while losing the popular vote by the widest of margins.

The way the Menendez brothers dovetails into this upcoming Menudo documentary is that José Menendez was an executive at RCA Records who signed Menudo in the early 1980's. The other relevant factor is one of the producers of the upcoming docuseries, Robert Rand, a reporter of the case and an ardent supporter of the brothers.

I realize that we're living in a world where we're more cognizant of sexual abuse being perpetrated by the powerful, but I severely hope that in our desire to be committed to that cause that we don't take the claims of these two conniving murderers at face value. Robert Rand is a man with an agenda, and he's latched himself onto the tiktokker and gen-z crowd to spread his lies. In the 1990's, people like Rand and Leslie Abramson tried to portray the brothers are browbeaten prepubescent boys. Now that they can no longer sell themselves on that myth they have latched onto the #metoo movement and are now comparing themselves to browbeaten women.

[GuppyGal]

17. If people knew the facts of this case...just the basic facts this was premediated for money

period. And it was very obvious as the jury surmised.

[jstephenj]

18. Deux ex pedophilia, my friend. Deux ex pedophilia...

No matter how overwhelming the evidence against you, just chalk it up to pedophilia. It makes all the ugly stains go away. It explains away all the brothers' impropriety in the days weeks and months before and after the murders.

And if you have any doubt of their innocent, just look at them, don't you just want to pinch their widdle cheeks?

[hlthe2b]

19. My understanding is even the documentarian completed the project not convinced either way...

I just don't know, but the jury certainly saw the "overkill"--especially to the mother and whatever evidence suggested money was the key motive, and discounted the sexual trauma allegations. It would be interesting to interview those jurors now and see if they would view it differently.