September 25, 2024 • 31 mins
In our final Vicente Fernandez episode, we explore the complexities of El Charro de Huentitán, an imperfect yet undeniably legendary figure. His contributions to Mexico cemented his place as the king of rancheras, but the cracks in his charro image reveal his humanity. By remembering both his extraordinary talents and his flaws, we honor a legacy that transcends perfection and inspires future generations to do better.
Lilliana Vazquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming An Icon with production support by Nick Milanes, Santiago Sierra, Rodrigo Crespo, Evelyn Uribe and Edgar Esteban of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network.
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Follow Lilliana Vazquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Let's be real here. We did not leave our current
icon on say the best of terms.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Not all daddies are good daddies, y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Especially the ones who leave their adoptive kids in the dust.
Whour one out for Rodrigo Fernandez the Portrio Sule.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Have got Sancho's No.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, But here on our podcast becoming an icon, we
know that icons aren't always perfect. So I want to
level the playing field with our listeners here and ask
ourselves a very twenty eighteen type of question.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Which trashy talk show host did you watch when you
were way too young? Okay, I'll go first, Tracepan.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
No, But for the record, Mari was my favorite problematic
talk show host. He's not problematic. The show was problematic.
It was anyway. Speaking of problematic, who is your favorite
atista that has let call it a colorful past.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Oh my god, I like, I don't want to just
state the obvious, because like I don't know what's really
going on, right, But like Britney Spears, okay, you know
what about you? Oh god, I.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Know, okay, this is I hate saying this, but I.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Know it's so like h cringe.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well it makes me icky. Here's the thing. I'm going
to separate the artist from the music. Yeah, but my
answer is Michael Jackson. It's always Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Okay, okay, all right, yeah, like I mean, he is
it's Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean it's so I'm so uncomfortable because I feel
like I listen to the music and every time, like
my son has never heard of Michael Jackson song. Oh,
and he loves music, like I mean, he loves Bruno
Mars like one of our icons. Like literally, my son's
love of music came from when we were researching the
Bruno Mars episodes that we did last season. He heard
it and all of a sudden, like a light turned
(01:58):
on in him. And that's what inspired me to like
put it in music class and like encourage his love
of dance and performance. I will not play Michael Jackson
for him. I don't even I don't really know what
to say. I know, I know he's never heard it.
He's never heard heard.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's just that's very interesting because if you liked him
so much, I know, like, do you listen to it without.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yes, it's hard. I'm working through this in therapy, Okay,
I'm working through this in therapy. But what it signals
to me is that icons are imperfect, right, and Charro
the Guentitan is the perfect example of that because on
the one hand, we can talk about everything that we
sent It has done for Mexico, right. I mean, we're
talking about donating extensively to education and health initiatives, playing
(02:41):
the free shows, right, but also contribution to music, to
how it makes us feel like he's in our feelings.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But on the other hand, there is the way that
he treated Kukita and all the shit that went down
with Rodrigo. And there's also some stuff that we haven't
even gotten into.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yet, some of which vicent that would own up to
much later in life, and some of which he never
answered for. The bad doesn't necessarily cancel out the good,
But that kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
If we can't just love our icons at their worst,
do we deserve to stand them at their best? Like?
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I love that question. I feel like that could be
its own episode.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I can be a sure march. We need our merch
store beage.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Hello, I Heart, and some of Chinta's best work still
lies ahead late in life. Vicenta Fernandez would forever cement
his status is the king of ranchiras with definitive recordings
and concerts.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But the proud macho image he embodied on stage, on
the screen and on the records would continue to have
a unfortunate underside.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Today on becoming an icon vicent de Fernandez, the good,
the bad, the ugly and the future. I'm your host,
Liliana Ooscaz.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And given the world some extra double.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Because we are going in the only way we know how,
with buenas whenas riesas.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
so iconic. Come two thousand and six and Chadro de
Wuentitan had gone three years without a single new recording.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Tinda was nearing the fortieth anniversary of his entry into
the industry and he was ready to come back with
a band.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
First came the release of one of his finest albums,
Latrajerria de vacin The Tragedy of the cow and the
title track lives up to its name with a story
that ends in a horrible, bloody mistake.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
A newly white cowboy leaves his wife at home to
go to work for three days. When his contract is up,
he returns to his house in the middle of a storm,
walks to his bed and finds not one, but two
people sleeping in.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
His bed drama. Immediately it's clear to him his wife
was unfaithful. In a fit of rage, the that Ghetto
pulls a pistol and fires on the two of them,
but when he looks beneath the bloody sheets, he realizes
something horrible.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The second body in his bed wasn't another man, but
his mother in law, who had come to stay with
his wife because she wanted to keep her company during
the storm.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
The mother and daughter are buried and the funeral goers disperse,
but they soon hear a distant gunshot, and no one
has to guess who the bullet was, for that Ghetto
had taken his own life.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
La Traghe del Racghero is seen by many as a
cautionary tale of toxic machismo, The lesson jealousy and a
hothead will cost a man what he loves most.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And it means that much more coming from Vicente Fernandez, who,
for years that appeared on the big screen, sometimes portraying
the bengeful gunslinger and sometimes the humble everyman in over
his head.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The album is one of Fernandez's highest performers, reaching number
one in the US Regional Mexican Albums Chart, the top
ten of the US Latin Album Chart, and breaking into
the Billboard two hundred overall.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Remember how Cente can hold the mic down low and
still fill a stadium with his voice. His voice carried
in more ways than one, and with that kind of reach,
the message matters.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Remember that later, kids. But La trehed de Bracquherto wasn't
Fernandez's only release that year. A fortieth anniversary means one thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Commemorative box set. The same year as La Trahiria, Sony
released a three disc box set titled The Living Legend,
with a track list hand selected by Chato himself.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
The discs were organized not by Era but by Seam
Mexiko at Tusalu and Muerees Devinas. It's giving patriotism, drinking
songs and romantic balod.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Basically the Holy Trinity of visen I was speaking. And
of course, at sixty six, Vicente could have very.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Well bast in his glory aka the sit back and
get your praise era of stardom.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But instead, his return from hiatus was a return to
his old pace, and in two thousand and seven, at
sixty six years old, with seventy eight albums under his belts,
Fernandez dropped what many considered his very best badassire.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Another one like, I mean, sixty.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Six is not old. I'm like twenty two years from
sixty six. I'm not going to be done.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And with this album, Tenta said, allow me to reintroduce myself.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Fernand has released music videos for all twelve tracks on
the album. Y'all, it is giving Beyonce like the visual
album Okay, I mean he is literally giving Beyonce here.
And you know, if you're a Beyonce fan, the album
doesn't exist without the visuals.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
You sent that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Fernandas was on board and listen, they were not Beyonce level.
They were pretty simple, mostly centered on besent this singing
in various locations on his rant. But we'll take it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
If you're really here for visuals, you want the title
sequence for the hit telenovela Fuego in Las Angre, because
the theme song was the title track for Fernandas's latest
Batasi Emprey.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
This is the trailer that makes me, now at forty four,
want to completely restart my career and become a te
lenovela at race. That's how inspiring the visuals hit like,
they hit so hard. I want to be the girl
in the.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Red that they do. But I do want to tell
you this, though, I don't know how the elf you
kept up with all of those characters. There was seven
hundred and eighty nine thousand people in this thing, like
the credits just I don't think I saw the same person.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
All I'm saying is that that is the exact reason
why I have hope I can make it, because it's
not this. I can make it because if they're seven
hundred and eighty six, seven eighty seven is not going
to put the novella overboard on budget or space. You're right,
I can be seven eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And by the way, the title track was just one
of three hit singles from the album, which would go
on to sale to platinum certification in quite the unusual
fashion for the time.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Despite coming out in the heyday of music pirating badasimp
it did Gangbusters. People even bought the album on their phones, Birch, which,
what the fuck? How do you buy that in two
thousand and seven on your phone?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I mean, I think I'm gonna have to go to
you for like a past life regression, because I don't
know that I remember what trying to buy an album
over like the T Mobile Sidekick felt like.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I mean, I'm thinking the Nokia flip phone. But the
point is Kente was having a renaissance.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
And the key was fellow Ranchita musician and songwriter Joan Sebastian.
While for Nan This's albums usually featured a mix of
songwriters and standards, Barrasiempre was his first time working with
just one songsmith. From start to finish.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
This old dog learned new tricks and got rewarded with
the Latin Grammys, bamoslof Nuestro, Ohia Awards, and Billboard Awards.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
In the years that followed, and between twenty ten and
twenty twelve, he released not one, not two, not three,
but four more albums.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But even though his recording pace was up there with
his younger years. His promotional too, were getting shorter and
shorter every year.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
The prospect of retirement was starting to look real for Fernandez,
and so in twenty twelve, at the age of seventy two,
he announced his final tour and international runner shows throughout
the Americas and Spain.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
At the press conference announcing the tour, Fernandez explained that
it was important for him to retire with dignity. Quote
it's out of love and respect for the audience and myself,
he explained, saying that it takes courage to leave the
stage before you become the subject of pity.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
After the tour, Genta would live out his days on
a rancho, spending time with his children and grandchildren and
probably great grandchildren, occasionally appearing on TV and recording at
his leisure.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
But throughout the tour his old age caught up with him,
and Chado ended up needing medical attention twice, first to
remove a tumor from his liver.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
The tour DIDs were postponed, but Gene came back swinging
and not only resumed the tour, but released a new
album to go along with it.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yo, These give you a heathos man, They will not
give up the car keys, much less the microphone.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Because music is the best medicine and if you want proof,
the second time, Chenthe was sidelined by illness, this time
pulmonary thrombosis. If you wanted to know, he did it again,
releasing a tango album, another first for the septagenarian mariachi singer.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
This Fair Wildtour ended up lasting about four years, finally
bowing in twenty sixteen after the media had called it
the never ending farewell Tour, longer than Shares herself.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
After four years of build up, El Chadro Dewentiitan played
his final show, and he did it entirely free of charge.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
The eighty thousand seat Asteca Stadium was packed and Trent
to sing sixty songs over four hours.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Take that Taylor, he told the crowd, as he had
over one hundreds of shows over his career, as long
as you keep applotting, I won't stop singing.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
He pulled out all his greatest hits the whole night.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Kupita was there backstage supporting her husband. Alejandro came on
stage to perform alongside his father and fifty instrumentalists, accompanied
and Chato on stage. Finally, In the wee hours of
April seventeenth, Chente bowed out of touring for good.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Ilkabaio Viaco was headed back to the ranch till about
his days, spending time with his colts. But it was
there at El Rancho Tres Portrios that his misdeeds would
catch up with him.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It's safe to say that visen dere Fernandez Bass and
his Sunset Years, the live album from his farewell concert
Unasteca and Elasteca, won the Grammy for Best Regional Mexican
Music Album. In twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Retirement, he slowed down his recording pace and recorded two
albums over four years, Mas Romantico, ke Nunka and a Misochnas.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
All I can think about right now is the fact
that we still don't have a Rihanna album. Like here,
we have a man in his seventies pumping out album
after album, song after song, and like Rihanna, where is
the album?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Come on, give us pondo replay now.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Just like Thesanda had dreamed, he spent time with his
kids and eleven grandkids on a Rancho tres Portrios.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And as we know, the ranch is where shit goes.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Down and down it went. In twenty eighteen, photos began
circulating of present Daviy Sante Fernandez kissing a significantly younger
woman on the lips.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Tenth de Fans rushed to his defense and claimed this
was the singer's granddaughter. After all, the singers kind of
always kissed his kids and grandkids on the lips. Some
families do that.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I do that.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that's a very Latin thing.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
No, I mean I have, But like I mean, my
baby's my baby's three is different. I mean maybe if
he was like thirteen, he'd be like, what are you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's a cultural thing.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It's a cultural thing anyways. But the woman in the
picture was never proven to be his granddaughter, and the Fans'
defense didn't count for much because the pictures brought Fernanda's
past infidelities right back up to the surface. Now, as
we know, Fernandas had a torrid affair with Patrisa Rivera
for nearly a decade. Goukita took the lemons and made lemonade,
(15:36):
but that didn't stop Chinha from making things sour.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
In the sit down with journalist Maria Patris in twenty nineteen,
Fernanda said, I was never a saint, but they never
saw me. There's nothing more important than being discreet. Also
yuck like yuck.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean, nothing has ever given me the ick more
than that sentime. Okay, anyway, sounds like Chente wasn't reading
the tabloids because s hy I. They had reported on
his affairs with performers such as Manuela Torres and Angelica
Maria along with many others.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Just like with Patriza Rivera, Fernandez had met manuel A
Torres on the set of the film El Albanil and
the affair kicked off soon after.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Now about that lemonade after Fernantha, this is passing, Oh
keep that would admit that her husband had on a girl. No, no, no,
but that she was happy too and never felt that
insecure about his affairs.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Quote, he is my husband behind closed doors, outside the door,
I don't know what he does.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So she's hashtag unbothered all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You know what I'm going to tell you this. I
think she's enjoying her lemonade, whatever that means. You know,
she is making her lemonade. He's making shit sours. She's
just adding more sugar.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
She's just you know, okay, but how okay, right? But
this just reinforces that like horrific and stereotype that I
hate that like Latino men get to be all out
there in these streets, having kids, having affairs, philandering while
your wife is just at home bearing at all. Or
hold on okay, or let me hold on, let me
(17:25):
reset my brain, let me reset my brain. Or is
this an open relationship? Before we had the language to
use terms like an open marriage, because what happens in
someone's marriage is not my business to judge. If you
have straighted with combo saying listen, girl, I love you,
(17:45):
you are my ride or die, you are my wife,
and I'm only going to have one wife. But like
I'm gonna do me outside, and she says, yes, I
mean that is consensual infidelity. Is that what we call it?
I don't what do you call that? I think it's
called like consensual non monogamy. That's better, right, yes, yes, yes,
(18:08):
consensual non monogamy.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's an open relationship.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, like the gays do that all the time. I'm
that's normal. That's how I got myself into this shit
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So does it work, Joseph? Is consensual non monogamy sustainable.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You know what if I was, if I was like touring,
if I was, yeah, because you just go have fun
and do your thing. But like where you're with somewhere
and you get to start a relationship with them, you know,
and like you started a relationship shit where you eat? Yeah,
like that like hosing area cold slame.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Got it, got it? Got it? Okay, okay, okay, fine. Yeah,
So my more enlightened, woke, non restrictive framework of relationships,
which I'm trying to get there, trying to get there,
working hard.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So not everything is a social norm when you think.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
About it, Yes, that is correct, and not everything is not.
Everyone's relationship should be dictated by what my idea of
a relationship is. So I'm okay with that. I think
I start to have issues around his idea of what
discretion is because you can go be messy outside these
gates of Rancho, but you bring your messiness home, I'm
(19:16):
gonna kill you. I mean, I also think, listen, if
we're talking about affairs hose in different area codes, that's
one thing. But I think it started to get really messy, right.
I mean that photo of Fernandez kissing a much younger
woman was only.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The start, because Fernandez took many photos with fans, and
especially female fans. Following the kiss, a photo surfaced with
Fernandez posing with his arm around a fan of his
and his hand was resting on her chee cheek.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Fernandez quickly explained, I placed my hand first on her
stomach and thought she might feel quote unquote offended. Then
I moved my hand up and that's when they took
the photo. I do offer a heartfelt apology, not only
to her the fan, but to all my audience, to
my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
But she wasn't getting away with it that easy. More
photos quickly followed with other female fans, So so much
for discretion.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Then came the bombshell. Encouraged by the women speaking out
about Fernandez's inappropriate behavior, a singer named Lupita Castro came
forward with an accusation of sexual assault, claiming that Fernandez
had her raster on more than one occasion forty years
prior after meeting on the set of Sian bren Lomingo,
before assaulting her two years later when she was seventeen.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
After and during threats of violence, Gastro decided not to
take Fernandez to court. She expressed that she would welcome
an apology, and an apology.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Never came, and if all of that was not enough,
there's an ugly cherry atop this shit Sunday. In a
May twenty nineteen interview, the singer revealed that when he
was battling cancer mid tour, he refused to undergo a
lie liver transplant.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
The reason he couldn't bear the thought of sleeping with
his wife with another man's organ inside of him. I
wouldn't even know if the donor was homosexual or a
drug addict.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So for those that don't know and are just as
shook as as we are, homophobia runs a deep when
it comes to blood and organ donation.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
The idea of being gay people shouldn't be able to
donate blood because AIDS, because.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You know, it's not like we have like medical test
and experts that can actually catch for that or anything like.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
It's not twenty twenty four like exactly. And whoever heard
of straight people getting AIDS? Oh?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yes, straights don't get AIDS.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What do you talk?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
They're immune to AIDS? You didn't know that they have
superior immune systems. They're not plagued by AIDS or any
STDs either or unwanted pregnancies.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, by the way, you guys, the fact that
we even have to have this conversation is wild. But
you know, everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation, religion, gender,
political beliefs, can get everything. And the firstborn who sent
a junior, was quick to insist that his father was
not a homophobe. What said was said word. Meanwhile, the
(22:21):
journalists who conducted the interview with the Senta senior simply
knews that at eighty years old, Chada was a man
of a different generation. I quote. He sent the lived
through a different era than we did. There wasn't the
openness to be friendly with the gay community. He's very
old fashioned. He quickly clarified that this wasn't a defense
but a simple explanation.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I okay, you know, as a gay man, I'll say this,
I do understand what he's saying. It's just fear, you know,
like there's no other way. It's just something that's a
known and it's also challenging people to be open whatever
that means. Like, you know, but at the same time,
you had quan.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I just think it's a lot. I mean, it's so
hard because you're right, like, we cannot judge the past
by the rules of today because people didn't have the
same I'm gonna call it education, but what I really
mean is conversation and community. Right, I'm going to call
it education, but it's not. It's people did not have
the same conversations and community that we have today. People
were not as willing to be open because they couldn't, right,
(23:23):
So it's a lot of ignorance, it's a lot of misinformation.
And I think that as long as you own your
mistakes and the shit that you said in the past,
as long as you own it and act differently. Because
talk is talk, actions are actions. I can respect what
was said without forgiving what was said.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Right, because people do change. They do, of course, you know,
I think that he could have a different point of
view now.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
But it's just it's complicated. And that's why talking about
past icons becomes complicated for us because it's the same
thing I said earlier, like can you separate the music
from the musician?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I wonder what if Juan Gabriel and you said they
were ever together? Oh, just like if you have that thought.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Right, they just at a dinner, like were they talking?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, like the celebs hang out like they were obviously
if I can at the award shows together, you're right,
You're right. I wonder, like, I just wonder if he
would say that, like to his face, say it to
my face. Get that filk little number and wrap it
around his neck.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Now, look and icon as big as Vicente Fernandez will
always have legions of adoring fans, no matter what should
he said in the past, and all those Mexicans out
in the rural outskirts to recognize where he comes from.
We should remember that he also recognized them too, by
championing them and putting up concerts for free for them.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But it makes it all more sour when that same
folk hero doesn't recognize where you come from, and when
the people who identify with him can't accept that he
might not have been the hero that they think he was.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Vicenta Fernandez was always an anomaly, the silver screen image
of the charro, the Macho Mariaci singer, that relic of
Mexican cinema's golden age. It likely would have faded after
the death of Fernandez's idol Fetherin Funte.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Instead, Vicenta Fernandez carried the charro image into the later
half of the twentieth century and into the new millennium,
and if you're willing to look, the cracks that image
were showing more and more.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
In the very last year of his life, those crafts
became unignorable, at least until the singer passed away in
December of twenty twenty one. On August sixth, twenty twenty one,
Vicenta Fernandez was laid low by a slip and fall
(25:58):
accident at it Ran. He injured his spine and was
placed on a ventilator.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
In the following months, the hits kept oncoming. He was
diagnosed with gian bar syndrome shortly after his spine surgery.
Then in November he was brought to the hospital where
he contracted.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Pneumonia, and from there El Chato de Guentitan took a
turn for the worse. On December twelfth, Vicente Fernandez died
surrounded by his family at the age of eighty one.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Fernandez didn't want a somber funeral, He wanted a celebration,
so on the same day as his death, his body
was taken to a fifteen thousand seat arena in Gjuanajara,
where six thousand fans were waiting there for him.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
On a stage adorned with a crucifix and the image
of La Vindallalupe Fernandez is Mariachi ban La Mariachi Especa
played and sang the songs for hours beside his coffin.
A wreath of white flowers and a late singer's favorite
white chattohat sat atop the casket.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Fernandez's son stood guard over their father and shifts along
with singers like Pepperi Lard, who broke down in tears
with his wife and kids. Then Donia Coquita approached the coffin.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Despite all the celebration around the stage, Fernandez's widow was
in her own world, her eyes fixed to the coffin.
Her daughter in law, by way of Alejandro, stayed by
her side constantly. From a place beside her husband, Kuquita
relayed instructions to family members, making it clear that the
service had been planned for some time.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Finally, Alejandro, the youngest of the Portrios and the clear
air of the Fernandez dynasty, saying an emotional rendition of
Volver Volver, the song that launched his career.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Donia Coquita thanked the attendees and the medical workers who
fought to save her husband in a private ceremony. The
following night, Fernandez was buried in the garden of Errancho
Tres Potrios.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
World leaders and musicians paid respects in statements and tributes,
and Netflix and tele Visa on Vicion raced to put
out a biopic first.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
The Fernandez family had already granted Netflix the rights to
put out a series telling the Vicente Fernandez story, El Rey,
starring hai Me Camille. Televisa's competing series El Ulti More
ended up being broadcast along with Netflix's series after months
of litigation.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Meanwhile, the fight over Vicente Fernanz's complicated legacy went quiet.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Across Mexico and for Mexicans worldwide. Cente remains an icon,
a role model for every little boy who dons a
chattle suit and learns to sing Volvervolvere.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Miguerio Vehco still gets tears going for Mexicans who have
lost a patriarch, but with a couple of years between
now on the senior's death, it's just as important to
remember the cracks in the image of El.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Chad Kier in La permanent tributes to the late singer
have been met with some resistance. When a street in
Boyle Heights was renamed in his honor in twenty twenty two,
many pointed out Fernandez's indiscretions and question whether it was
appropriate to keep holding him up as a role model.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
The following year, the statue created by a Wailahatan artist
went up in Walnot Park, prompting a number of articles
reminding readers of Fernandez's misdeeds.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Nonetheless, the street renaming in Boyle Heights went ahead with
the blessing of Donia Kuquita herself. The statue unveiling was
accompanied by a lively Mariacci contest, and rural communities still
laud and shadow Dejentitan for his talents and for his
contributions to their communities. Fernandez is hardly the only icon
of popular music with a massive following and a checkered past.
(29:30):
So the question is how do you reconcile when someone
imperfect is beloved. When we were kids, we would always
hear our parents designate certain people as good or bad.
But obviously we know that people aren't just black or white,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
When someone has left as big of an impact as Fernandez,
the cracks in the figure don't necessarily need to bring
the whole thing crumbling down.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It's completely possible to draw inspo from a figure like
Fernandez without holding him up on kind of pedestal. There
is a difference between a role model and an example.
A role model is someone to be copied in thought,
in action, in practice.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
But an example is someone you can learn from, not
just from their successes and their hero moments, but from
their feelings too. They can show you how not to
be that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Now, going back to that statue of we Senta Fernandez
and Walnut Park, it stands at nearly ten feet tall
and weighs four metric tons. It makes the singer larger
than life, superhuman almost.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
And there are things about him that were superhuman, his vocals,
his charisma, and we have those in his music, his videos,
his live shows, even his movies. But we can't forget
that Vicente Fernandez the man was just that.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
And remembering our icons for who they actually were doesn't
make our icons weaker. It actually helps the people who
follow their example just do better. It makes their legacy
stronger because their legacy becomes our legacy, and it inspires
conversations like the one we've had through this entire episode.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Right Joseph Period.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Fanya Record's secret weapon
El Malo will go on. Becoming an Icon is presented
by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to
Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
(31:39):
wherever you get your podcast
Let's be real here. We did not leave our current
icon on say the best of terms.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Not all daddies are good daddies, y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Especially the ones who leave their adoptive kids in the dust.
Whour one out for Rodrigo Fernandez the Portrio Sule.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Have got Sancho's No.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Okay, But here on our podcast becoming an icon, we
know that icons aren't always perfect. So I want to
level the playing field with our listeners here and ask
ourselves a very twenty eighteen type of question.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Which trashy talk show host did you watch when you
were way too young? Okay, I'll go first, Tracepan.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
No, But for the record, Mari was my favorite problematic
talk show host. He's not problematic. The show was problematic.
It was anyway. Speaking of problematic, who is your favorite
atista that has let call it a colorful past.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Oh my god, I like, I don't want to just
state the obvious, because like I don't know what's really
going on, right, But like Britney Spears, okay, you know
what about you? Oh god, I.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Know, okay, this is I hate saying this, but I.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Know it's so like h cringe.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well it makes me icky. Here's the thing. I'm going
to separate the artist from the music. Yeah, but my
answer is Michael Jackson. It's always Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Okay, okay, all right, yeah, like I mean, he is
it's Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean it's so I'm so uncomfortable because I feel
like I listen to the music and every time, like
my son has never heard of Michael Jackson song. Oh,
and he loves music, like I mean, he loves Bruno
Mars like one of our icons. Like literally, my son's
love of music came from when we were researching the
Bruno Mars episodes that we did last season. He heard
it and all of a sudden, like a light turned
(01:58):
on in him. And that's what inspired me to like
put it in music class and like encourage his love
of dance and performance. I will not play Michael Jackson
for him. I don't even I don't really know what
to say. I know, I know he's never heard it.
He's never heard heard.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's just that's very interesting because if you liked him
so much, I know, like, do you listen to it without.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yes, it's hard. I'm working through this in therapy, Okay,
I'm working through this in therapy. But what it signals
to me is that icons are imperfect, right, and Charro
the Guentitan is the perfect example of that because on
the one hand, we can talk about everything that we
sent It has done for Mexico, right. I mean, we're
talking about donating extensively to education and health initiatives, playing
(02:41):
the free shows, right, but also contribution to music, to
how it makes us feel like he's in our feelings.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But on the other hand, there is the way that
he treated Kukita and all the shit that went down
with Rodrigo. And there's also some stuff that we haven't
even gotten into.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yet, some of which vicent that would own up to
much later in life, and some of which he never
answered for. The bad doesn't necessarily cancel out the good,
But that kind of goes both ways.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
If we can't just love our icons at their worst,
do we deserve to stand them at their best? Like?
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I love that question. I feel like that could be
its own episode.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I can be a sure march. We need our merch
store beage.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Hello, I Heart, and some of Chinta's best work still
lies ahead late in life. Vicenta Fernandez would forever cement
his status is the king of ranchiras with definitive recordings
and concerts.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But the proud macho image he embodied on stage, on
the screen and on the records would continue to have
a unfortunate underside.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Today on becoming an icon vicent de Fernandez, the good,
the bad, the ugly and the future. I'm your host,
Liliana Ooscaz.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on
how today's most famous latinv stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And given the world some extra double.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Because we are going in the only way we know how,
with buenas whenas riesas.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
so iconic. Come two thousand and six and Chadro de
Wuentitan had gone three years without a single new recording.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Tinda was nearing the fortieth anniversary of his entry into
the industry and he was ready to come back with
a band.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
First came the release of one of his finest albums,
Latrajerria de vacin The Tragedy of the cow and the
title track lives up to its name with a story
that ends in a horrible, bloody mistake.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
A newly white cowboy leaves his wife at home to
go to work for three days. When his contract is up,
he returns to his house in the middle of a storm,
walks to his bed and finds not one, but two
people sleeping in.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
His bed drama. Immediately it's clear to him his wife
was unfaithful. In a fit of rage, the that Ghetto
pulls a pistol and fires on the two of them,
but when he looks beneath the bloody sheets, he realizes
something horrible.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The second body in his bed wasn't another man, but
his mother in law, who had come to stay with
his wife because she wanted to keep her company during
the storm.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
The mother and daughter are buried and the funeral goers disperse,
but they soon hear a distant gunshot, and no one
has to guess who the bullet was, for that Ghetto
had taken his own life.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
La Traghe del Racghero is seen by many as a
cautionary tale of toxic machismo, The lesson jealousy and a
hothead will cost a man what he loves most.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And it means that much more coming from Vicente Fernandez, who,
for years that appeared on the big screen, sometimes portraying
the bengeful gunslinger and sometimes the humble everyman in over
his head.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The album is one of Fernandez's highest performers, reaching number
one in the US Regional Mexican Albums Chart, the top
ten of the US Latin Album Chart, and breaking into
the Billboard two hundred overall.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Remember how Cente can hold the mic down low and
still fill a stadium with his voice. His voice carried
in more ways than one, and with that kind of reach,
the message matters.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Remember that later, kids. But La trehed de Bracquherto wasn't
Fernandez's only release that year. A fortieth anniversary means one thing.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Commemorative box set. The same year as La Trahiria, Sony
released a three disc box set titled The Living Legend,
with a track list hand selected by Chato himself.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
The discs were organized not by Era but by Seam
Mexiko at Tusalu and Muerees Devinas. It's giving patriotism, drinking
songs and romantic balod.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Basically the Holy Trinity of visen I was speaking. And
of course, at sixty six, Vicente could have very.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Well bast in his glory aka the sit back and
get your praise era of stardom.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But instead, his return from hiatus was a return to
his old pace, and in two thousand and seven, at
sixty six years old, with seventy eight albums under his belts,
Fernandez dropped what many considered his very best badassire.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Another one like, I mean, sixty.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Six is not old. I'm like twenty two years from
sixty six. I'm not going to be done.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And with this album, Tenta said, allow me to reintroduce myself.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Fernand has released music videos for all twelve tracks on
the album. Y'all, it is giving Beyonce like the visual
album Okay, I mean he is literally giving Beyonce here.
And you know, if you're a Beyonce fan, the album
doesn't exist without the visuals.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
You sent that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Fernandas was on board and listen, they were not Beyonce level.
They were pretty simple, mostly centered on besent this singing
in various locations on his rant. But we'll take it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
If you're really here for visuals, you want the title
sequence for the hit telenovela Fuego in Las Angre, because
the theme song was the title track for Fernandas's latest
Batasi Emprey.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
This is the trailer that makes me, now at forty four,
want to completely restart my career and become a te
lenovela at race. That's how inspiring the visuals hit like,
they hit so hard. I want to be the girl
in the.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Red that they do. But I do want to tell
you this, though, I don't know how the elf you
kept up with all of those characters. There was seven
hundred and eighty nine thousand people in this thing, like
the credits just I don't think I saw the same person.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
All I'm saying is that that is the exact reason
why I have hope I can make it, because it's
not this. I can make it because if they're seven
hundred and eighty six, seven eighty seven is not going
to put the novella overboard on budget or space. You're right,
I can be seven eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And by the way, the title track was just one
of three hit singles from the album, which would go
on to sale to platinum certification in quite the unusual
fashion for the time.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Despite coming out in the heyday of music pirating badasimp
it did Gangbusters. People even bought the album on their phones, Birch, which,
what the fuck? How do you buy that in two
thousand and seven on your phone?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I mean, I think I'm gonna have to go to
you for like a past life regression, because I don't
know that I remember what trying to buy an album
over like the T Mobile Sidekick felt like.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I mean, I'm thinking the Nokia flip phone. But the
point is Kente was having a renaissance.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
And the key was fellow Ranchita musician and songwriter Joan Sebastian.
While for Nan This's albums usually featured a mix of
songwriters and standards, Barrasiempre was his first time working with
just one songsmith. From start to finish.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
This old dog learned new tricks and got rewarded with
the Latin Grammys, bamoslof Nuestro, Ohia Awards, and Billboard Awards.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
In the years that followed, and between twenty ten and
twenty twelve, he released not one, not two, not three,
but four more albums.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But even though his recording pace was up there with
his younger years. His promotional too, were getting shorter and
shorter every year.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
The prospect of retirement was starting to look real for Fernandez,
and so in twenty twelve, at the age of seventy two,
he announced his final tour and international runner shows throughout
the Americas and Spain.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
At the press conference announcing the tour, Fernandez explained that
it was important for him to retire with dignity. Quote
it's out of love and respect for the audience and myself,
he explained, saying that it takes courage to leave the
stage before you become the subject of pity.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
After the tour, Genta would live out his days on
a rancho, spending time with his children and grandchildren and
probably great grandchildren, occasionally appearing on TV and recording at
his leisure.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
But throughout the tour his old age caught up with him,
and Chado ended up needing medical attention twice, first to
remove a tumor from his liver.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
The tour DIDs were postponed, but Gene came back swinging
and not only resumed the tour, but released a new
album to go along with it.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yo, These give you a heathos man, They will not
give up the car keys, much less the microphone.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Because music is the best medicine and if you want proof,
the second time, Chenthe was sidelined by illness, this time
pulmonary thrombosis. If you wanted to know, he did it again,
releasing a tango album, another first for the septagenarian mariachi singer.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
This Fair Wildtour ended up lasting about four years, finally
bowing in twenty sixteen after the media had called it
the never ending farewell Tour, longer than Shares herself.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
After four years of build up, El Chadro Dewentiitan played
his final show, and he did it entirely free of charge.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
The eighty thousand seat Asteca Stadium was packed and Trent
to sing sixty songs over four hours.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Take that Taylor, he told the crowd, as he had
over one hundreds of shows over his career, as long
as you keep applotting, I won't stop singing.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
He pulled out all his greatest hits the whole night.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Kupita was there backstage supporting her husband. Alejandro came on
stage to perform alongside his father and fifty instrumentalists, accompanied
and Chato on stage. Finally, In the wee hours of
April seventeenth, Chente bowed out of touring for good.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Ilkabaio Viaco was headed back to the ranch till about
his days, spending time with his colts. But it was
there at El Rancho Tres Portrios that his misdeeds would
catch up with him.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It's safe to say that visen dere Fernandez Bass and
his Sunset Years, the live album from his farewell concert
Unasteca and Elasteca, won the Grammy for Best Regional Mexican
Music Album. In twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Retirement, he slowed down his recording pace and recorded two
albums over four years, Mas Romantico, ke Nunka and a Misochnas.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
All I can think about right now is the fact
that we still don't have a Rihanna album. Like here,
we have a man in his seventies pumping out album
after album, song after song, and like Rihanna, where is
the album?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Come on, give us pondo replay now.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Just like Thesanda had dreamed, he spent time with his
kids and eleven grandkids on a Rancho tres Portrios.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And as we know, the ranch is where shit goes.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Down and down it went. In twenty eighteen, photos began
circulating of present Daviy Sante Fernandez kissing a significantly younger
woman on the lips.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Tenth de Fans rushed to his defense and claimed this
was the singer's granddaughter. After all, the singers kind of
always kissed his kids and grandkids on the lips. Some
families do that.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I do that.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that's a very Latin thing.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
No, I mean I have, But like I mean, my
baby's my baby's three is different. I mean maybe if
he was like thirteen, he'd be like, what are you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's a cultural thing.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It's a cultural thing anyways. But the woman in the
picture was never proven to be his granddaughter, and the Fans'
defense didn't count for much because the pictures brought Fernanda's
past infidelities right back up to the surface. Now, as
we know, Fernandas had a torrid affair with Patrisa Rivera
for nearly a decade. Goukita took the lemons and made lemonade,
(15:36):
but that didn't stop Chinha from making things sour.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
In the sit down with journalist Maria Patris in twenty nineteen,
Fernanda said, I was never a saint, but they never
saw me. There's nothing more important than being discreet. Also
yuck like yuck.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean, nothing has ever given me the ick more
than that sentime. Okay, anyway, sounds like Chente wasn't reading
the tabloids because s hy I. They had reported on
his affairs with performers such as Manuela Torres and Angelica
Maria along with many others.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Just like with Patriza Rivera, Fernandez had met manuel A
Torres on the set of the film El Albanil and
the affair kicked off soon after.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Now about that lemonade after Fernantha, this is passing, Oh
keep that would admit that her husband had on a girl. No, no, no,
but that she was happy too and never felt that
insecure about his affairs.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Quote, he is my husband behind closed doors, outside the door,
I don't know what he does.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So she's hashtag unbothered all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You know what I'm going to tell you this. I
think she's enjoying her lemonade, whatever that means. You know,
she is making her lemonade. He's making shit sours. She's
just adding more sugar.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
She's just you know, okay, but how okay, right? But
this just reinforces that like horrific and stereotype that I
hate that like Latino men get to be all out
there in these streets, having kids, having affairs, philandering while
your wife is just at home bearing at all. Or
hold on okay, or let me hold on, let me
(17:25):
reset my brain, let me reset my brain. Or is
this an open relationship? Before we had the language to
use terms like an open marriage, because what happens in
someone's marriage is not my business to judge. If you
have straighted with combo saying listen, girl, I love you,
(17:45):
you are my ride or die, you are my wife,
and I'm only going to have one wife. But like
I'm gonna do me outside, and she says, yes, I
mean that is consensual infidelity. Is that what we call it?
I don't what do you call that? I think it's
called like consensual non monogamy. That's better, right, yes, yes, yes,
(18:08):
consensual non monogamy.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's an open relationship.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, like the gays do that all the time. I'm
that's normal. That's how I got myself into this shit
that I was in.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So does it work, Joseph? Is consensual non monogamy sustainable.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You know what if I was, if I was like touring,
if I was, yeah, because you just go have fun
and do your thing. But like where you're with somewhere
and you get to start a relationship with them, you know,
and like you started a relationship shit where you eat? Yeah,
like that like hosing area cold slame.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Got it, got it? Got it? Okay, okay, okay, fine. Yeah,
So my more enlightened, woke, non restrictive framework of relationships,
which I'm trying to get there, trying to get there,
working hard.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So not everything is a social norm when you think.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
About it, Yes, that is correct, and not everything is not.
Everyone's relationship should be dictated by what my idea of
a relationship is. So I'm okay with that. I think
I start to have issues around his idea of what
discretion is because you can go be messy outside these
gates of Rancho, but you bring your messiness home, I'm
(19:16):
gonna kill you. I mean, I also think, listen, if
we're talking about affairs hose in different area codes, that's
one thing. But I think it started to get really messy, right.
I mean that photo of Fernandez kissing a much younger
woman was only.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The start, because Fernandez took many photos with fans, and
especially female fans. Following the kiss, a photo surfaced with
Fernandez posing with his arm around a fan of his
and his hand was resting on her chee cheek.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Fernandez quickly explained, I placed my hand first on her
stomach and thought she might feel quote unquote offended. Then
I moved my hand up and that's when they took
the photo. I do offer a heartfelt apology, not only
to her the fan, but to all my audience, to
my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
But she wasn't getting away with it that easy. More
photos quickly followed with other female fans, So so much
for discretion.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Then came the bombshell. Encouraged by the women speaking out
about Fernandez's inappropriate behavior, a singer named Lupita Castro came
forward with an accusation of sexual assault, claiming that Fernandez
had her raster on more than one occasion forty years
prior after meeting on the set of Sian bren Lomingo,
before assaulting her two years later when she was seventeen.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
After and during threats of violence, Gastro decided not to
take Fernandez to court. She expressed that she would welcome
an apology, and an apology.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Never came, and if all of that was not enough,
there's an ugly cherry atop this shit Sunday. In a
May twenty nineteen interview, the singer revealed that when he
was battling cancer mid tour, he refused to undergo a
lie liver transplant.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
The reason he couldn't bear the thought of sleeping with
his wife with another man's organ inside of him. I
wouldn't even know if the donor was homosexual or a
drug addict.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So for those that don't know and are just as
shook as as we are, homophobia runs a deep when
it comes to blood and organ donation.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
The idea of being gay people shouldn't be able to
donate blood because AIDS, because.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
You know, it's not like we have like medical test
and experts that can actually catch for that or anything like.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
It's not twenty twenty four like exactly. And whoever heard
of straight people getting AIDS? Oh?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yes, straights don't get AIDS.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What do you talk?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
They're immune to AIDS? You didn't know that they have
superior immune systems. They're not plagued by AIDS or any
STDs either or unwanted pregnancies.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean, by the way, you guys, the fact that
we even have to have this conversation is wild. But
you know, everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation, religion, gender,
political beliefs, can get everything. And the firstborn who sent
a junior, was quick to insist that his father was
not a homophobe. What said was said word. Meanwhile, the
(22:21):
journalists who conducted the interview with the Senta senior simply
knews that at eighty years old, Chada was a man
of a different generation. I quote. He sent the lived
through a different era than we did. There wasn't the
openness to be friendly with the gay community. He's very
old fashioned. He quickly clarified that this wasn't a defense
but a simple explanation.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I okay, you know, as a gay man, I'll say this,
I do understand what he's saying. It's just fear, you know,
like there's no other way. It's just something that's a
known and it's also challenging people to be open whatever
that means. Like, you know, but at the same time,
you had quan.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I just think it's a lot. I mean, it's so
hard because you're right, like, we cannot judge the past
by the rules of today because people didn't have the
same I'm gonna call it education, but what I really
mean is conversation and community. Right, I'm going to call
it education, but it's not. It's people did not have
the same conversations and community that we have today. People
were not as willing to be open because they couldn't, right,
(23:23):
So it's a lot of ignorance, it's a lot of misinformation.
And I think that as long as you own your
mistakes and the shit that you said in the past,
as long as you own it and act differently. Because
talk is talk, actions are actions. I can respect what
was said without forgiving what was said.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Right, because people do change. They do, of course, you know,
I think that he could have a different point of
view now.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
But it's just it's complicated. And that's why talking about
past icons becomes complicated for us because it's the same
thing I said earlier, like can you separate the music
from the musician?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I wonder what if Juan Gabriel and you said they
were ever together? Oh, just like if you have that thought.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Right, they just at a dinner, like were they talking?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, like the celebs hang out like they were obviously
if I can at the award shows together, you're right,
You're right. I wonder, like, I just wonder if he
would say that, like to his face, say it to
my face. Get that filk little number and wrap it
around his neck.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Now, look and icon as big as Vicente Fernandez will
always have legions of adoring fans, no matter what should
he said in the past, and all those Mexicans out
in the rural outskirts to recognize where he comes from.
We should remember that he also recognized them too, by
championing them and putting up concerts for free for them.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But it makes it all more sour when that same
folk hero doesn't recognize where you come from, and when
the people who identify with him can't accept that he
might not have been the hero that they think he was.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Vicenta Fernandez was always an anomaly, the silver screen image
of the charro, the Macho Mariaci singer, that relic of
Mexican cinema's golden age. It likely would have faded after
the death of Fernandez's idol Fetherin Funte.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Instead, Vicenta Fernandez carried the charro image into the later
half of the twentieth century and into the new millennium,
and if you're willing to look, the cracks that image
were showing more and more.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
In the very last year of his life, those crafts
became unignorable, at least until the singer passed away in
December of twenty twenty one. On August sixth, twenty twenty one,
Vicenta Fernandez was laid low by a slip and fall
(25:58):
accident at it Ran. He injured his spine and was
placed on a ventilator.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
In the following months, the hits kept oncoming. He was
diagnosed with gian bar syndrome shortly after his spine surgery.
Then in November he was brought to the hospital where
he contracted.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Pneumonia, and from there El Chato de Guentitan took a
turn for the worse. On December twelfth, Vicente Fernandez died
surrounded by his family at the age of eighty one.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Fernandez didn't want a somber funeral, He wanted a celebration,
so on the same day as his death, his body
was taken to a fifteen thousand seat arena in Gjuanajara,
where six thousand fans were waiting there for him.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
On a stage adorned with a crucifix and the image
of La Vindallalupe Fernandez is Mariachi ban La Mariachi Especa
played and sang the songs for hours beside his coffin.
A wreath of white flowers and a late singer's favorite
white chattohat sat atop the casket.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Fernandez's son stood guard over their father and shifts along
with singers like Pepperi Lard, who broke down in tears
with his wife and kids. Then Donia Coquita approached the coffin.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Despite all the celebration around the stage, Fernandez's widow was
in her own world, her eyes fixed to the coffin.
Her daughter in law, by way of Alejandro, stayed by
her side constantly. From a place beside her husband, Kuquita
relayed instructions to family members, making it clear that the
service had been planned for some time.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Finally, Alejandro, the youngest of the Portrios and the clear
air of the Fernandez dynasty, saying an emotional rendition of
Volver Volver, the song that launched his career.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Donia Coquita thanked the attendees and the medical workers who
fought to save her husband in a private ceremony. The
following night, Fernandez was buried in the garden of Errancho
Tres Potrios.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
World leaders and musicians paid respects in statements and tributes,
and Netflix and tele Visa on Vicion raced to put
out a biopic first.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
The Fernandez family had already granted Netflix the rights to
put out a series telling the Vicente Fernandez story, El Rey,
starring hai Me Camille. Televisa's competing series El Ulti More
ended up being broadcast along with Netflix's series after months
of litigation.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Meanwhile, the fight over Vicente Fernanz's complicated legacy went quiet.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Across Mexico and for Mexicans worldwide. Cente remains an icon,
a role model for every little boy who dons a
chattle suit and learns to sing Volvervolvere.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Miguerio Vehco still gets tears going for Mexicans who have
lost a patriarch, but with a couple of years between
now on the senior's death, it's just as important to
remember the cracks in the image of El.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Chad Kier in La permanent tributes to the late singer
have been met with some resistance. When a street in
Boyle Heights was renamed in his honor in twenty twenty two,
many pointed out Fernandez's indiscretions and question whether it was
appropriate to keep holding him up as a role model.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
The following year, the statue created by a Wailahatan artist
went up in Walnot Park, prompting a number of articles
reminding readers of Fernandez's misdeeds.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Nonetheless, the street renaming in Boyle Heights went ahead with
the blessing of Donia Kuquita herself. The statue unveiling was
accompanied by a lively Mariacci contest, and rural communities still
laud and shadow Dejentitan for his talents and for his
contributions to their communities. Fernandez is hardly the only icon
of popular music with a massive following and a checkered past.
(29:30):
So the question is how do you reconcile when someone
imperfect is beloved. When we were kids, we would always
hear our parents designate certain people as good or bad.
But obviously we know that people aren't just black or white,
good or bad.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
When someone has left as big of an impact as Fernandez,
the cracks in the figure don't necessarily need to bring
the whole thing crumbling down.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It's completely possible to draw inspo from a figure like
Fernandez without holding him up on kind of pedestal. There
is a difference between a role model and an example.
A role model is someone to be copied in thought,
in action, in practice.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
But an example is someone you can learn from, not
just from their successes and their hero moments, but from
their feelings too. They can show you how not to
be that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Now, going back to that statue of we Senta Fernandez
and Walnut Park, it stands at nearly ten feet tall
and weighs four metric tons. It makes the singer larger
than life, superhuman almost.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
And there are things about him that were superhuman, his vocals,
his charisma, and we have those in his music, his videos,
his live shows, even his movies. But we can't forget
that Vicente Fernandez the man was just that.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
And remembering our icons for who they actually were doesn't
make our icons weaker. It actually helps the people who
follow their example just do better. It makes their legacy
stronger because their legacy becomes our legacy, and it inspires
conversations like the one we've had through this entire episode.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Right Joseph Period.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Fanya Record's secret weapon
El Malo will go on. Becoming an Icon is presented
by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to
Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
(31:39):
wherever you get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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