Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actor Tenoch Huerta has departed an upcoming Netflix movie, after recent allegations of sexual assault from musician and women’s rights activist María Elena Ríos. Huerta has announced his exit (via Deadline) from Fiesta en la Madriguera, a new film that was announced by Netflix in May, and was expected to begin filming this month. Earlier this month, Ríos publicly accused Huerta of sexual assault, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse on social media, referring to the actor as a “sexual predator.” She also accused Poder Prieto, an anti-racist activist organization that Huerta is a spokesperson of, of protecting the actor.
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“Given the impact of the recent false statements by María Elena Ríos and the damage they have caused, I have no choice but to withdraw from participating in the film Fiesta en la Madriguera,” Huerta said in a statement. “It is with great sadness that I do this, but I cannot allow her actions to harm not only me, but also the work of dozens of talented and hard-working people involved in the project. My focus now is simple: continue the process of restoring my reputation.”
In Ríos’ social media posts, she wrote, “It’s very difficult to speak about emotional abuse and abuse by a sexual predator who is loved by the world for playing a character in a movie like Tenoch Huerta. He appears charming, which is a characteristic of a narcissict and a good deal of victimization.”
“Why am I late in talking about it? Because I have my process,” Ríos later wrote. “Why didn’t I report? Because I was afraid that this would happen: people who refuse to believe that a SUPER HERO is an abuser, manipulator and sexual predator.”
At the moment, Huerta is not confirmed to return as Namor in a future installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Prior to these allegations, rumors had swirled that Namor could factor into the forthcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
“You know, people who read the comics know that there’s 80 years of stories with Namor that we can tap into,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in an interview earlier this year. “So, where and when, we’ll keep to ourselves for now. But, we think that this is an incredibly iconic character that’s being introduced. Probably, to most people, most movie-goers for the first time. And we expect them to want to see more.”
