Former Menudo singer Roy Rosselló claims he was sexually abused by José Menendez, saying that the father of convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez – commonly known as the Menendez Brothers – sexually assaulted him when he was a teen.
Rosselló makes the startling claims in an upcoming three-part docuseries that will begin airing on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, on May 2.
The assertion first aired Tuesday, when NBC’s Today show outlined some of the findings reported by the docuseries’ journalists Robert Rand and Nery Ynclan.
“I know what he did to me in his house,” Rosselló is heard saying in a clip from Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed. He alleges that José Menendez, who was an executive at RCA Records at the time, sexually assaulted him when he was a young member of the popular 1980s boy band.
He claimed the abuse happened in Menendez’s New Jersey home when Rosselló was 14 years old, and alleges he was drugged before the alleged molestation.
“That’s the man here that raped me,” Rosselló says in the clip, pointing at what appears to be a photo of Menendez. “This guy. That’s the pedophile.”
Singer Roy Rossello of the pop group Menudo poses for a portrait circa 1985 in New York City, N.Y.
Michael Ochs archives / Getty Images
Menendez was affiliated with Menudo because he had signed the group to RCA Records.
In the trailer, another person is seen saying that “José Menendez was obsessed with the band Menudo.” The docuseries then asserts that Rosselló’s claims might have changed things during the Menendez brothers’ trial for the murders of their parents in 1989.
The Menendez murders
On Aug. 20, 1989, José and Mary Louise (who went by the name Kitty) Menendez were brutally murdered inside their Beverly Hills Mansion.
The scene was so gruesome that early speculation focused on the possibility of a mob hit. According to Biography.com, the parents had been rendered nearly unidentifiable by 15 rounds from two 12-gauge shotguns.
But soon the focus shifted to the couple’s sons, who were 18 and 21-years-old at the time. At first, they maintained to police they’d stopped by their parents’ house the night of the killings to retrieve Erik’s ID while on the way to a movie, and discovered their slain parents.
In this Oct. 20, 1995, file photo, Lyle Menendez looks up during testimony in his and brother Erik’s retrial for the shotgun slayings of their parents in Los Angeles, Calif.
Steve Grayson / UPI via AP, Pool, File)
However, Erik eventually confided to his therapist that he and his brother were responsible for the killings and after the therapist shared the information with his wife, the confession eventually made its way to police.
Lyle and Erik were eventually arrested for the murders and their trial kicked off an era of high-profile, televised criminal trials that captured the public’s imagination through the ‘90s.
Despite defence arguments that José had sexually molested his two sons for years and that they killed their parents out of fear, they were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. They served the first part of their sentences in separate prison, until they were reunited in 2018 and allowed to serve their sentences in the same facility.
In recent years, many have questioned whether there might have been a different outcome for the Menendez brothers if they stood trial today, given society’s changed understanding of sexual abuse and family violence.
The brothers’ prior appeals for a new trial have been denied.
Menudo’s previous allegations
Rosselló previously accused Menudo manager Edgardo Díaz of sexually abusing him when he was a teenager.
In a four-part miniseries for HBO Max, which aired in 2022, other members of the band also said they were physically, verbally, sexually and psychologically abused as part of Menudo.
No one has ever been criminally charged in connection with the allegations.
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