Univision has canceled a popular Spanish-language radio program, following allegations by an employee that the host sexually harassed him and falsified letters pushing for immigration reform.
Last week Univision Radio Network confirmed the cancellation of Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo’s “Piolín por la Manana” to the Associated Press, at the time the company offered no reason.
According to documents obtained by The Los Angeles Times, Sotelo’s show got the boot following allegations from Alberto “Beto” Cortez, a producer and performer on the show, that Sotelo was “physically, sexually and emotionally harassing,” for three years.
The allegations are contained in an April 16 letter from Cortez attorney to executives at Univision.
In the documents the Times’ obtained and reported Monday evening, Cortez claimed that Sotelo made unwanted sexual advances, including grabbing Cortez’s buttocks and genitals when he arrived at work in the morning. Sotelo would also taunt Cortez during staff meetings, ask inappropriate questions about his girlfriend, call him a derogatory term for gay and tell him to say he was gay.
Cortez’s lawyer, Robert Clayton, wrote that former employees would be able to confirm the harassment.
First lady Michelle Obama appears on “Piolín por la Manana,” Oct. 27, 2010. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
“They too have either been subjected to or heard of Sotelo’s misconduct, threats, and the retaliation he has taken against employees who have spoken out against him,” Clayton wrote in the April complaint letter, further requesting Univision reach a settlement with Cortez or he would make the matter public by filing a lawsuit.
The letter further claimed Sotelo ordered employees to falsify letters to reach the one-million-letter promise he made during a 2007 immigration reform drive.
According to the Clayton’s letter to Univision obtained by the Times, Sotelo’s immigration drive was well short of the one-million-letter mark, so he had employees “clandestinely photocopy letters so that it would appear as if he had gathered 1 million signatures.”
The letter reportedly notes that when Cortez refused he was told “in no uncertain terms that the team needed to comply.”
Cortez further claimed that he was made to work long hours without additional compensation or breaks.
Sotelo’s attorney, Jeffrey Spitz, denied Cortez’s allegations.
“A disgruntled, troubled employee has made malicious and false claims about Eddie Sotelo,” Spitz said in a statement reported by the Times. “This was done as part of a demand for money…. The employee worked with Eddie for more than a decade. The employee’s allegations of harassment and falsification of immigration letters are pure fiction intended to gain a financial settlement.”
The Times notes that Cortez left the program to go on medical leave in January as he “was so traumatized by this ever increasing hostile work environment.” He returned at the end of June, promoting the show on his Facebook page.
In June 2007, The Times reports, Sotelo then took the allegedly falsified letters to Washington D.C. to present them to then-Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, and then-Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Spector as well as members from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“I have been on both sides of the immigration divide,” he told The Washington Post in 2007 regarding the immigration drive. “What I’m hoping to happen today is that our leaders can touch their hearts and think of so many people that have the dream to be legal in this beautiful country.”