Selena Quintanilla’s father and sister are facing a $1 million lawsuit after producing Netflix series about Selena’s life.
Moctesuma Esparza produced the movie Selena back in 1997 about the late singer’s story. Jennifer Lopez starred in the movie as Selena. The movie is a musical drama that tells the story of the Queen of Tejano’s music singer Selena before her tragic murder in 1995. Selena was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar, her fan club’s president at a motel in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Esparza filed a lawsuit against Selena’s father and sister, Abraham and Suzette Quintanilla for producing the upcoming Netflix series called Selena: The Series. He claims Abraham signed a contract giving him all rights to Selena’s life story in 1995. According to E! News and TMZ Esparza says Suzette and Abraham discussed the possibility of producing a second film or TV series back in 1998. It surprised Esparza when he found out in 2018 that Abraham licensed the Selena rights to Netflix.
Netflix wasn’t left off the hook. Since Netflix is involved in the production of Selena: The Series, Esparza included them in the lawsuit for ignoring his rights to Selena’s life story.
People are upset on how Selena’s own father is still exploiting her after her death. They think he’s hungry for money and will keep making money from her. The fact that her own family were thinking about a second film or series for years is upsetting to some. In an interview with PEOPLE, Abraham said he wants to keep Selena’s legacy alive through her music. The family achieved their goal years ago but now people want them to let Selena rest in peace.
Twitter user commented: “Let SELENA rest ! Everyone fighting over making money off of her even her own family smh that is sad ! WE LOVE HER WE KNOW HER STORY SHE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. Let her legacy live on the way it is already smh.”
https://twitter.com/Stefvixen/status/1326567914581893121?s=20
ADVERTISEMENT
This family has made so much money on Selena's death instead of letting her rest in peace. I am not surprised by this at all. So sad that her own father is this way.
— Kathy (@Kathy_Dominguez) November 12, 2020
On the other hand, some were defending Abraham since he was Selena’s manager. The point of being a manager is giving the artist publicity and keeping their legacy.
Her father was and IS her manager. It's literally his job to keep her memory alive. Fans want this. If you're not a fan, keep moving. She's resting just fine seeing her family doing good.
— GritzyGirl99 (@BoxHero14) November 13, 2020
A concern people have is why did Abraham give the rights to his daughter’s story for free. Selena’s family should have all right to their daughters career and life story according to fans. But it’s hard situation since the Abraham signed a contract giving those rights to Esparza.
I think in order for the film to be made, he needed the rights to her story with their permission, which they gave. If they didn’t, there would’ve been no movie
— dylan ☾ (@dylnjxn) November 12, 2020
Selena: The Series
Selena: The Series focuses on late singer, Selena, early years in family band Selena y Los Dinos and succeeding when going solo. Christian Serratos will be playing the lead role as Selena. A few cast members from the series are Gabriel Chavarria, Ricardo Chavarria, Noemi Gonzalez, Jesse Posey and Seidy Lopez. The set premiere date for the two-part series is on December 4, 2020.
ADVERTISEMENT
The first official trailer for @netflix's ‘#Selena: The Series’ has arrived. ????
WATCH: https://t.co/VaW6D0prfz pic.twitter.com/dM9AWyuFoz
— Complex (@Complex) October 27, 2020
Selena fans are not happy with Christian Serratos playing the lead role. “I would like to sue them for casting someone so freaking skinny tbh,” Twitter user said.
It’s ridiculous. And the perm wig????
— Chrystale???? (@erybodyh8schrys) November 12, 2020
My God, Lol, hahahaha.????
— Sofía. (@DSRL16) November 11, 2020
Selena was beautiful and had curves which everyone loved along with her incredible dance moves and musical talent.
the power of this song, her voice, the stage presence, the outfit, everything! selena quintanilla ladies and gentlemenpic.twitter.com/GtHaLwheG8
— CANDELA | VI A DEMI (@queenselena71) November 10, 2020
Christian Serratos
Fans shaming on Serratos won’t put her down, she’s thrilled to be playing the role of Selena. On Zoom interview with Marie Clarie, Serratos says how she had to believe in herself to play the role since she’s not a popstar. She also spent months rehearsing and studying Selena so she can represent the character as accurately as possible. “I had to trust myself and do the dance steps the way that I felt she was doing them. It made me more confident, which in turn made it not matter if it was right or wrong. Because the thing that Selena had, that was so special, was her confidence.”
Serratos has never had a role like this before. She’s best known as Rosita Espinosa in The Walking Dead and Angela Weber in the Twilight series. Being given the role of Selena is completely different to the character’s she played before.
Actor admits her fear for the role and considered reaching out to Jennifer Lopez (J.Lo) since she played the character before. She felt intimated and “wanted to seem cool” so she didn’t reach out to J.Lo. “I really respect what she did in that film because there was this resurgence of Selena’s work afterward.”
The connection Serratos has for the character Selena is her heritage as a Mexican-American. Channeling her Mexican side she still practiced perfecting her speaking and singing in Spanish. As Serratos mastered Selena’s every more, let’s hope fans are amazed with the series.
https://twitter.com/twdswomen/status/1313513871907393536?s=20
