Marvel star Tenoch Huerta, who recently portrayed Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, has been accused of sexual assault online by Mexican saxophonist and renowned activist María Elena Ríos.
In a series of public Tweets, Rios attempted to distance herself from Poder Prieto, an organization focused on combating racism in Mexico, of which the Black Panther 2 star is a member.
In one Tweet, translated from Spanish, she claimed Huerta to be a "violent and sexual predator" and that the organization allegedly pursued her in order to "avoid scandals over their Marvel movie":
"I made it very clear to them when I left their sect that they protect the violator and sexual PREDATOR of Tenoch Huerta that they not publish anything about me. They still went to look for me at a hypocritical ball concert to avoid scandals over their Marvel movie."
Rios continued in a follow-up Tweet, saying it is difficult to discuss the "abuse of power of a sexual predator who is loved for playing a character in a movie" and claimed Huerta was "charming in appearance" and a "narcissist":
"It is very difficult to talk about the emotional abuse and abuse of power of a sexual predator who is loved in the world for playing a character in a movie like Tenoch Huerta.
Charming in appearance, the great hallmark of a narcissist + a good helping of victimization".
The activist did not go into detail about her claims but did respond affirmatively to another user on Twitter who asked whether Huerta had assaulted her, saying there are "several more."
As reported by Mexican outlet Reforma, the accusations against Huerta began after Rios claimed Poder Prieto published a podcast episode that she was a part of without paying her.
"THEY DO NOT HAVE CONSENT to disseminate a material that they did not want to pay me and that, like this, in several they exploited me to work for them for free."
The organization responded on Twitter saying it could not "pay you [for] something that is not our production.":
"We await the right of reply. We are accused of not having paid you for this podcast. We cannot pay you something that is NOT our production. And we didn't publish it, only that content was recommended as we recommend content almost every day..."
UPDATE: Tenoch Huerta has responded to the allegations, calling them "false and completely unsubstantiated". Read his full statement here.
The actor recently made his MCU debut Black Panther 2 and was rumored to be returning for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
The accusations come soon after another Marvel star, Jonathan Majors, was arrested and accused of sexual assualt in March.
The Direct will continue to provide updates on this story as they become available.
