Following the disclosure by his former bandmates from Menudo of the alleged abuse and rape they endured at the hands of their former boss, singer Ricky Martin was spotted on the set of Mr. and Mrs. American Pie.
Along with his co-stars, the 50-year-old was seen walking around the set of the show while donning a tuxedo and suspenders.
Before getting inside an SUV, he gave cameras the peace sign.
Along with Kristen Wiig, Kaia Gerber, and Laura Dern, Martin also appears in the series.
According to Variety, Apple TV Plus only started working on it in the beginning of February, so it is still in the early stages of manufacturing.
Martin was photographed on the set the same day that HBO’s Menudo: Forever Young unveiled shocking charges about Menudo, who may have been the biggest boyband in the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
Martin, who joined the band when he was 12 years old, has not yet responded to the documentary’s claims.
In the document, former band member Angelo Garcia, who joined the group in 1988 at the age of 11 and left two years later, claimed that band manager Edgardo Diaz had permitted him to be sexually assaulted “a number of times” by “predators” who would “take advantage of him” while he was a member of the group.
He claimed the first instance occurred in his hotel room with an unidentified man, who provided booze to the 11-year-old until he “fell out.”
According to the New York Post, Garcia stated in the documentary, “When I woke up, I was naked and I was bleeding, so I knew that I had been entered.”
I had burn marks from the carpeting on my face, kind of. I couldn’t understand since I was so bewildered.
In the documentary, other group members also alleged that they had been subjected to sexual abuse, as well as drug usage, neglect, exploitation, and bullying from other members, all while under Diaz’s strict supervision.
Martin, who joined the group in 1984 at the age of 13 and left five years later, is arguably Menudo’s most well-known member. It is believed that Martin’s stint in Menudo served as the impetus for the huge music career of the Livin’ La Vida Loca singer.
Ray Acevedo, who was a member of Menudo from 1985 to 1988, asserted that Martin was the group’s “golden kid” from the start and that he informed the other members of this. Acevedo’s statements were repeated by band member Sergio Blass.
When someone knocked on the door, I had to answer it since Ricky had seniority over me, which was awful, Blass remembered.
I had to answer the phone if it rang. I reminded him of his housewife.
Acevedo recalled violent hazing by other members, including one who once held him over the edge of a balcony (he declined to name them).
The band went through more than 30 different members over its existence, with a number of them coming and going over the years.
The document claims that Diaz used a “Fountain of Youth plan” for Menudo, which involved replacing any members who became too old (typically at age 16) in order to maintain the band’s success and financial viability for a long time.
Many former band members said that they frequently worked without supervision or security and were introduced to substances including cocaine and marijuana by different “producers and promoters.”
Former member Blass stated in the documentary, “One time we were in Colombia, I’m with [another Menudo member] Rubén [Gómez], and we’re heading to the hotel.”
“We walk into our room. All of a sudden, this unknown man enters. He then removes what must have been around a kilo of cocaine.
Because we didn’t know this person, “we freaked out.” However, the man was actually a producer and promoter.
And as it turns out, members have previously come up about alleged mistreatment.
Several members have long maintained that Diaz exposed them to sexual assault in 1991, and they have done so in interviews and on live TV appearances ever since.
Diaz has consistently refuted the accusations and declined to participate in the new documentary.