Moneda Moves (92): A Flamin’ Hot news story gets called into question 🔥
Feliz viernes, mi gente.
Just last week, a Los Angeles Times investigation challenged the validity of Richard Montañez’s claims that he was the inventor of Hot Cheetos. It’s a controversial and developing story in entrepreneurship and news.
Why did LA Times choose to drop this story on the heels of Montañez’s book release and as production occurred for the biopic led by Eva Longoria? Had other outlets that reported his story not source-checked the validity of it in this way?
In an interview with Variety, Montañez sounded off on the LA Times story published over the weekend that disputed his role in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. For years, Montañez has vocalized his contributions to Frito-Lay and story about how he started working as a janitor and worked his way up to a marketing executive.
“In that era, Frito-Lay had five divisions,” Montañez says. “I don’t know what the other parts of the country, the other divisions — I don’t know what they were doing. I’m not even going to try to dispute that lady, because I don’t know. All I can tell you is what I did. All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.”
We share more details about the story that has unraveled in the last week below. Montañez upcoming book, “Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive” is still available for pre-order and on our libro list to read.
Con poder,
Lyanne
Headlines to put on your radar.
Meet Miss Universe Andrea Meza 👑: So you’ve heard Andrea Meza is Miss Universe as of Sunday night but WHO exactly is she?
🇲🇽 Meza is Mexicana, an activist for women’s rights but also a women in STEM. Here at Moneda Moves, we love seeing women and especially those of color thrive in multiple disciplines, because as Miss Universe said herself, it changes the narrative for those in underrepresented communities:
"I used to think that Mexican people were not able to get to these places and to be in these high positions, and after (Miss Mexico Ximena Navarette) won, she changed the mindset that I had," Meza said as cited in @abcnews.Meza has a degree in software engineering from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua and notes that she is proud to be a woman in a male-dominated field.
A Flamin’ Hot news story to question🔥: Just last week, a Los Angeles Times investigation challenged the validity of Richard Montañez’s claims that he was the inventor of Hot Cheetos. It’s a controversial and developing story in entrepreneurship and news.
🎤In an interview with Variety, Montañez sounded off on the LA Times story published over the weekend that disputed his role in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. For years, Montañez has vocalized his contributions to Frito-Lay and story about how he started working as a janitor and worked his way up to a marketing executive.
“In that era, Frito-Lay had five divisions,” Montañez says. “I don’t know what the other parts of the country, the other divisions — I don’t know what they were doing. I’m not even going to try to dispute that lady, because I don’t know. All I can tell you is what I did. All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.”
What he did in his kitchen was create the seasoning that would make Hot Cheetos the spicy snacks they are today “in my kitchen, in my garage.”
With a biopic led by Eva Longoria underway Montañez says he is “not concerned” about the film being affected by Frito-Lay’s claims.
We have many questions after reading the Los Angeles Times article around the timing of the report, what contributions from Montañez included (as cited by Frito-Lay) and the portrayal of the story. We will be coming back with updates.
That’s the brief update for today! Until next week, catch us here on Moneda Moves.