Family of Singer Selena Hit with $1M Lawsuit Over New Netflix Series

November 13, 2020

*The family of late Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla is facing a $1 million lawsuit after producing a Netflix series based on the artist.

Moctesuma Esparza, who produced the 1997 “Selena” biopic starring Jennifer Lopez, filed a lawsuit against the streaming giant, Selena’s father Abraham and her sister Suzette Quintanilla, claiming Abraham signed a contract agreeing to give him the rights to his daughter’s life story in 1995.

Esparza says they even discussed a possible series based on Selena’s early life, as a follow-up to the biopic. But Esparza claims the Quintanillas breached the contract when they went on to produce a show with Netflix, titled “Selena: The Series,” which premieres Dec. 4.

“Before she became the Queen of Tejano Music, Selena Quintanilla was a young girl from Texas with big dreams and an even bigger voice,” the logline for the show reads. “The two-part coming-of-age drama Selena: The Series explores the once-in-a-generation performer’s journey as a young artist, from singing small gigs in Corpus Christi with her family to becoming one of the most successful Latin artists of all time — and the years of grit and sacrifice the Quintanilla family navigated together before Selena’s meteoric rise to fame.”

Check out the trailer for the series below.

In March, Abraham opened up to PEOPLE about keeping Selena’s legacy alive. “When Selena passed away, I told my family that I was going to try to keep her memory alive through her music,” he said at the time. “And 25 years later I think we, as a family, accomplished that.”

“We can be fine, and then someone wants to share where they were when they heard that Selena died, and that’s very difficult,” added Suzette. “I have to dig deep in my soul to figure out why. Then I realize it’s their way of sharing, that they feel that connection, they’re sharing that they felt lost.”