President Joe Biden receives actress, director and Democratic activist Eva Longoria at the White House on Thursday evening for a screening of her new film Flamin’ Hot.
The South Lawn event will feature Longoria, who directed the film, and members of the cast — while prominent figures in the Latino community are invited, the White House said.
The film has already premiered on Disney+ and Hulu.
It purports to tell the story of Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia, a janitor turned Frito-Lay manager who claims he invited Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
In 2021, with Montañez’s second memoir about to be released, the Los Angeles Times punched holes in the story of the Mexican-American businessman, who found no data, he had a part in the creation of the popular snack.
President Joe Biden (left) welcomes actress, director and Democratic activist Eva Longoria (right) to the White House for a South Lawn screening of her new film Flamin’ Hot, which is based on the debunked biography of Frito-Lay executive Richard Montanez
Flamin’ Hot tells the story of Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia (pictured), who claims he invented the spicy Cheetos flavor. In 2021, the Los Angeles Times broke the story that Montañez’s long-told story was largely false, and even the chip giant said that
“None of our records indicate that Richard was involved in any way in the test market of Flamin’ Hot,” Frito-Lay wrote in a statement to The Times.
The company had conducted an internal investigation into Montañez’s claims, The Times revealed.
“We have interviewed multiple employees involved in the test market, and they all indicate that Richard was not involved in any way with the test market,” the statement continued. “That doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Richard, but the facts don’t back up the urban legend.”
The Times found out that Flamin’ Hot Cheetos was created in 1989 by a team of snack food professionals in Plano, Texas.
A junior employee named Lynne Greenfeld was assigned to create the brand and came up with the name, the report said.
Montañez started telling people he made the spicy cheese twists in the early 2000s.
He claimed to have brought home a batch of unflavored Cheetos after a machine broke down and flavored them himself – giving them the spice and zest of Mexican cuisine.
Greenfield alerted Frito-Lay to Montañez’s false claims in 2018 and an internal investigation followed.
“We appreciate Richard’s many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not attribute the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or any other Flamin’ Hot products to him,” the company told The Times.
Longoria – a longtime fixture in Democratic politics – was already attached to the movie project by the time the LA Times report came out.
In recent interviews about the film, she has brushed off Montañez’s falsehoods.
‘That story never touched us’ she told the LA Times. “It feels like LA Times would have better resources for more important things.”
“It was never our intention to tell the history of the Cheeto,” she added. “We tell Richard Montañez’s and we tell his truth.”
Montañez has really risen in the ranks – and he is rightly credited with targeting the Hispanic market as a marketing guru.
That’s what Longoria said she was focusing on.
Richard’s story is our story. We are all Richard Montañez,” she told the paper in a telephone interview in March. “There was a time in our lives when someone said, ‘No, no, no. Ideas don’t come from people like you.’ “No, no, no. I don’t think you’re quite suited for that.”‘
And so I think we’ll all relate to his perseverance and his belief in himself. How he was just like, “Why not?” He dared to ask: ‘But why not me?’
The White House indicated that the film was selected because it celebrated diversity.
“This movie is about the power of faith and family to strengthen and uplift. As with other White House displays of Till and American Born Chinese, this is an opportunity for Americans of diverse backgrounds to see themselves reflected in and celebrated by the White House,” a White House official told DailyMail. .com.