Controversial Oxygen Documentary ‘Selena & Yolanda’ Sparks Outrage: Fans Slam Platform for Giving a Voice to the Killer
Latinos are known to be huge fans of true crime podcasts and docuseries. However, there’s one we might not like at all. “Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them,” a two-part documentary by Oxygen True Crime, will air on February 17 at 8 p.m. ET, unveiling a version of Selena Quintanilla’s murder previously unknown to the audience.
Or at least that’s what the trailer says.
“What the public is told isn’t exactly what happened in reality,” says Yolanda’s sister in the Oxygen trailer.
A murder that forever scarred the Latino community
Almost 30 years after Selena’s murder, “Selena & Yolanda” intends to tell the story from the murderer’s argument — it was an accident.
“After so many years, I think it’s time to set the story straight,” Saldívar says from prison.
But what story are we talking about?
In 1995, Selena Quintanilla was on the cusp of her career. She was only 23 and had been crowned the Queen of Tejano Music, had a Grammy Award, and had her own chain of boutiques. By then, she was one of the most celebrated Latina artists of her time.
According to prosecutors, Selena hired adoring fan Yolanda Saldivar to create the singer’s fan club after Saldívar’s persistent calls to her family. Once president of Selena’s fan club, Saldívar earned the Quintanilla family’s trust and even had a key to the home Selena shared with husband Chris Perez.
Selena promoted Saldivar to manage two of her boutique’s outlets. Until the business checking accounts started to look odd.
Around $30,000 had been embezzled after fans complained they had paid membership fees and received no merchandise in return, the Daily Mail recounts.
Selena had reportedly fired Saldivar over the phone, but she wanted to meet in person. They met on the morning of March 31 at a Days Inn hotel, where Saldivar shot Selena in the back with a 38-caliber revolver.
While Selena was reportedly able to make it into the hotel lobby, doctors declared her dead on her arrival at Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, Saldivar barricaded herself at the hotel for more than nine hours, threatening police officers she would take her own life.
But now, she says it was “an accident.”
A revisionist clip teases with Selena Quintanilla’s ‘secrets’
According to the new documentary, Saldivar’s family gathered evidence that would allegedly be enough to show “different versions” of what happened.
Apparently, Selena had a secret big enough to make Saldivar fear for her life.
“I knew her secrets,” Saldivar says in the teaser. “And I think the people deserve to know the truth.”
However, the timeliness of the documentary did not escape Selena’s fans. Yolanda Saldivar is eligible for parole next year, and it seems she’s ready to take advantage of Selena’s legacy again. Even worse, many consider the glorification of a murderer like Saldivar to be crossing the line.
“Absolutely disgusting Oxygen would make a special about Yolanda Saldivar,” said one X (former Twitter) user.
“Stop giving this monster a platform,” said another.
In the meantime, and after three decades, Selena seems unable to rest in peace.