Why I took the Attempted Takedown of Richard Montañez Personally

For the sake of transparency, Richard Montañez is a friend of mine and I do feel it’s gross that I have to preface this piece with that disclaimer since I’ve taken any and every affront toward our community personally. The umbrage was justified.

The first thing that came to my mind when the LA Times reported on his supposed lies was “nah, I don’t believe you.” This is too common a thing. It is true that when one works for a company and invents or pitches an idea during work hours, that idea belongs to the company. That’s what they’re paying you for. In the words of one of our favorite fictional narcissists:

“It’s your job. I give you money and you give me ideas.”

So many things didn’t add up.

How does a Brown Mexican man, a high school dropout who was once a day laborer and a janitor (and a machinist) with no connections and no robust social capital (at least the one given to upwardly mobile white folks who come from poverty or any other class: whiteness) manage to become an executive of one of the biggest companies in the world without initially pitching it an idea worth billions of dollars? I doubt one idea is enough to get him there and since he was indeed a goose laying golden eggs, he also pitched several other products that made PepsiCo and Frito-Lay a lot of freaking money. He was batting at 1.000.

Why didn’t PepsiCo rein in his public speaking? Surely, claiming to be the inventor of such a product, a cultural staple, would not only raise eyebrows, but it’d also be grounds for dismissal. Richard Montañez retired from PepsiCo after giving it more than 40 years of his life. He became its biggest mascot, taking every chance he could to showcase both a Pepsi bottle and a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Stating he wasn’t involved in its creation after being such an outstanding employee strikes me as parasitic and opportunistic, which I wouldn’t put past international corporations.

Why would Hispanic journalists or the public believe that a white woman and her team came up with a thing Mexicans have been doing for a very long time? Put hot sauce in mostly everything. Richard just managed to help Frito-Lay monetize it, unlike the million-and-one products corporate America has stolen from us, from our culture, from our communities—Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, you name it. She also claimed to have come up with African American products sold to the African American community. Seriously, nobody asked themselves, isn’t this a common thing? It is. Why didn’t the LA Times report that she was also fired from the company? Tsk.

As a consummate professional, Richard took his time to respond to the accusations, took the high road when he didn’t have to, and stated he didn’t know what other parts of the company were doing at the time, but that he did know what he was up to in his neck of the woods. Which is the rational thing to say because of a little thing called multiple discovery hypothesis: multiple people within the same timeline independently coming up with the same ideas/inventions. Fortunately for some, due to whatever social capital they may have at the time, get to have first dibs on the spoils because they were the first ones to get publicly recognized. Take Charles Darwin, for instance:

Charles Darwin is commonly cited as the person who “discovered” evolution. But, the historical record shows that roughly seventy different individuals published work on the topic of evolution between 1748 and 1859, the year that Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

That’s a lot of people time hasn’t been kind to, but why, for once, can’t we claim to be the first to come up with anything? From our very own communities? Great grief.

There are tens of thousands of stories of our folks getting their ideas stolen, their names erased from history books, but the first thing we do is side with a corporation that hasn’t done right by us, by a media that hasn’t done right by us?

The bottom-line is that there are many geniuses among us, constantly innovating—out of curiosity, necessity, or just for the hell of it, but nobody is crediting us because white and corporate America haven’t validated them/us first. Richard Montañez isn’t an anomaly. Even trying to set an example out of him isn’t out of the ordinary. It’s expected at this point.

We know better but do we do better?

It’s a depressing thing because even among a leadership that professes to be about uplifting us, it never fails to tap first and mostly only individuals white and corporate America knighted as brilliant or representatives of a community. That’s not uplifting. That’s keeping your class interests intact while profiting off of our most marginalized, which, if we’re being honest, is the majority of our people.

I know Richard felt abandoned and betrayed by many of his people—our people. I, too, continue to be disappointed in a lot of people. Even after PepsiCo put out a statement apologizing for the supposed confusion:

Far from being an urban legend, Richard had a remarkable 40-plus-year career at PepsiCo and made an incredible impact on our business and employees and continues to serve as an inspiration today. His insights and ideas on how to better serve Hispanic consumers were invaluable and directly resulted in the success of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

To be clear, we have no reason to doubt the stories he shares about taking the initiative to create new product ideas for the Cheetos brand, and pitching them to past PepsiCo leaders. Richard is an important part of PepsiCo's history and the success of the company. He is an inspiration and his story cannot be belittled. We regret the confusion that has come from the recent speculation, but most importantly want Richard to know he is valued and cared for among PepsiCo's employees and we only wish him happiness and success.

But, the damage has been done. Google his name and you’ll see a gazillion articles reporting his supposed cardinal sin but few on his redemption arc. Hundreds of charlatans took a lot of joy in his supposed demise. Many of them enjoy an incredible reach given to them by the same white entities that wanted to bury Richard alive. Many of them were Hispanic. Hell, even some of his fans turned on him. The whole thing was a display of how depraved, how low we can go when it comes to destroying one of our own.

Luckily, Richard always had people backing him up. We may have been few when the chips were down but he knows that we are mighty. We knew that the accusations were bullshit. If you know Richard, even marginally, you’d know that he’s a family man that gave his talents to a corporation that finally came to its senses and dedicated his life to serving our people—as an extraordinary example of what we are capable of, as an amazing public speaker, as a commendable philanthropist… as a great friend.

Richard Montañez deserves better.

Let’s do better by supporting whatever he’s involved with—including buying his latest book and tuning in the upcoming movie based on his life.

It’s the least we can do for Richard.

It’s the least we can do for ourselves.

P.S. Shout-out to Eva Longoria, DeVon Franklin and their team for continuing production of the film despite the world turning its back on Richard during such an incredulous and tumultuous time.

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César Vargas is a distinguished writer, advocate, strategist, and social critic, celebrated for his influential voice in modern Latinx America. His insightful social criticism spans a broad spectrum of topics including geopolitics, race, ethnicity, immigration, and culture. His work resonates across various platforms and communities, engaging editors, writers, journalists, celebrities, activists, artists, executives, politicians, professors, students, and more.

Recognized as one of the '40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics' by the Huffington Post, his writings have been featured in prestigious publications like the 'Bedford Guide for College Writers' and 'Caribbean Latino Perspectives in the Second Decade of the 21st Century'. His essays and articles have been published and quoted in NBC, Fox News Latino, Voxxi, Okayafrica, Okayplayer, The Huffington Post, Sky News, Salon, The Guardian, Latino Magazine, Latino Rebels, Vibe, The Hill, BET, and his own widely-followed online magazine, UPLIFTT, reaching millions globally.

He is known for creating content that goes viral, thanks to his unique perspective on documenting contemporary issues. His work, which played a pivotal role in bringing Afrolatinidad to the mainstream, is taught in high schools and colleges and shared widely, including in state prisons. His contributions to the arts were acknowledged with two awards from Fusion and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts for his short films 'Some Kind of Spanish' and 'Black Latina Unapologetically'.

As a Salinas Scholar at the Aspen Institute's Latinos & Society, he continues to push boundaries and inspire change. His academic background in Film Studies from Queens College, CUNY, underpins his diverse skill set.

Beyond his professional achievements, Vargas is deeply committed to philanthropy. He has raised and distributed funds for various causes, including supporting Haitians in Sosúa, his birthplace. This commitment to social good has piqued the interest of publishing houses, MacArthur Fellows, and major foundation leaders, leading to the ongoing development of his personal memoir.

Currently residing in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Delmy, and their son, Omari, Vargas continues to be a dynamic voice and advocate, championing diverse causes and shaping the narrative around Latinx issues in America and beyond.