Musician Maria Elena Rios has accused ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ star Tennok Huerta of sexual assault.
In a series of tweets, the saxophonist and activist called the Marvel actor a “sexual offender” and accused him of sexually assaulting him. The Times has reached out to Rios for details of the allegations. Representatives for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” distributors Huerta and Disney did not respond to The Times’ request for comment on Sunday.
Rios filed the complaint this week after an activist group based in Mexico filed a complaint. Poder Prieto, shared an episode of the podcast “El Feisbuk de la Malinche” featuring Rios on social media. Huerta is the publicist for Poder Prieto, a collective of actors, media professionals and others working to combat racism in the entertainment industry and beyond.
Rios, a former member of Poder Prieto, accused the organization on Instagram of sharing an episode of the podcast without her consent. She also alleged that Poder Prieto made her do the work for free and never compensated her.
She also accused Poder Prieto of what she claims is an anti-racist community, using behind-closed-door violence and defending Huerta.
On Friday, Poder-Prieto tweeted that he couldn’t pay Rios for something they didn’t produce, and that the group did not publish the podcast episodes, but recommended them alongside other content. claimed to be the only The group did not respond to her comments about Huerta.
Rios immediately responded by accusing Poder Prieto of defending the “sex offender” Huerta. She added that upon leaving her organization, she had told Poder-Prieto “very clearly” that she was not authorized to publish anything relating to her.
Podel-Prieto did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Sunday.
Another Twitter user asked Rios if Huerta had sexually assaulted him. Rios replied in the affirmative.
Rios also described Mexico as a “matista” and cited its culture of injustice and violence against women, explaining on social media sites why she didn’t speak up sooner. She also shared screenshots of hateful and threatening messages she received from strangers in response to her own allegations.
“It’s very difficult to talk about the emotional abuse and abuse of power of a sex offender who plays a movie character like Tenoch Huerta and is loved all over the world,” Rios tweeted on Saturday.
Huerta has appeared in dozens of movies and TV series, including ‘The Forever Purge,’ ‘Narcos: Mexico,’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.’ His portrayal of Wakanda Forever’s multi-layered antagonist, Namor, was widely praised, with his dark skin color promoting the on-screen representation of the indigenous people.
“This is the first superhero with an indigenous, Mesoamerican background,” Huerta told The Times in November. “A brown-skinned dude. This ancient culture is his roots. And he speaks like I do. We’re making history. I tell them, ‘Something to be proud of.’ Let’s do it.”
See Rios’ Spanish tweet below.
Carlos de Loera, a Times staff writer, contributed to this report.
