Menudo hits rock bottom: the day the five members resigned

The video speaks volumes. A journalist stands guard outside the office of manager Edgardo Díaz. Until suddenly he meets them, the guys from Menudo. Five irreverent and very nice teenagers that the public normally sees happy to belong to Menudo. They are happy now, but because they are leaving the band. Rawy Torres even wears a T-shirt that says “You Fat Bastards”. Is it a message for Edgardo Díaz, for his Panamanian partner José Antonio Jiménez, for both? The whole band will resign.

The episode is narrated in the Get on my bike series, perhaps in a slightly lighter way than it happened in real life, but not too lightly. According to the series, after the firing of Sergio Blass and Rubén Gómez – after they were arrested in 1990 with marijuana at Miami airport – Edgardo Díaz planned a hectic business with the Menudo who remained (Robert Avellanet, Rawy Torres, Adrián Olivares ) and the replacements of Sergio and Rubén, the Venezuelan Jonathan Montenegro and the Spanish Edward Aguilera. Edgardo did not want the trip to precipitate and went to sea. To this must be added the omnipresence of his partner, José Antonio Jiménez, really unbearable for children and very aggressive in daily relations with their parents. Menudo remained on a crazy tour, with less money, less comfort than usual and in an atmosphere of nervousness that sometimes led to forget that its members were among children and adolescents.

1991. Menudomania on the streets of Miami

“It had only been a month since the episode, from the scandal with Sergio and Rubén, and the work routine began, the program was very tight because we had outstanding concerts, We had to clear the name again with a new renewed generation, so to speak, and logically we had the weight as well as being able to somehow lift the group again because that news tarnished the image a bit, ”he said. Jonathan Montenegro. Time was cut with a knife.

Rawy Torres went further, days ago on the popular Mexican program Ventaneando. “The fact of having to work while you are sick is mistreatment. They are not adequate or correct working conditions. On the other hand, a verbal abuse, to discredit, to throw down a participation, an execution, which is not the right thing to I don’t want to repeat the word, but if I can give you a synonym, it would be, you’re garbage. And along with that, the demerit: “This doesn’t work.” We asked for a change in treatment – or rather, abuse- , this was brought to a table, it was not taken into consideration. Our position was once again discredited, the five of us agreed and said no. There is nothing more to talk about, there is no ‘is nothing more to bear Verbal abuse, physical abuse for Robert … “Ventaneando’s reporter asked him if he could see the episode according to which Edgardo Díaz pulled Robert Avellanet’s hair. Rawy said yes.

Robert, Rawy, Jonathan and Edward resigned from Menudo, accusing “breach of contract, cruel treatment and emotional abuse”. Adrián Olivares has reconsidered his original position and decided to continue in the group.

Once again, Edgardo Díaz tried to reinvent the group. Abel Talamántez Andrés Blázquez, Alexis Grullón and Ashley Ruiz entered. Ashley sang very well, but spoke practically no Spanish: she would learn to stay in Menudo.