One of the subjects of Netflix's latest Ryan Murphy-produced true-crime hit has spoken out.
On September 19, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story premiered on the streaming giant, and the miniseries about the titular brothers—who murdered their parents José and Kitty Menendez, after enduring years of alleged abuse—quickly became one of the most popular shows the platform. Since then, Erik Menendez has slammed the series, created by Murphy and Ian Brennan, which he says is "rooted in horrible and blatant lies."
In a statement shared by his wife, Tammi Menendez, on September 19, and written "in Erik's words," the younger Menendez brother blasted Netflix and Murphy for the series and its depiction of his brother, Lyle.
"I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show," the statement begins. "I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent."
In Monsters, Erik Menendez (played by Cooper Koch) is depicted as sensitive and shy, while Lyle (Nicholas Chavez) is presented as arrogant and entitled.
The real-life Erik's statement was shared on the same day the limited series premiered.
Menendez went on to criticize the series' decision to rehash stigmas about sexual abuse that have long been disproven.
"It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward—back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women," the statement continued. "Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out."
He added, "Now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander."
Erik's response to the Netflix's series.#NetflixMonsters #Netflix #RyanMurphy pic.twitter.com/Xz1waxA2u3September 20, 2024
Menendez ended the statement with a message to Murphy, asking, "Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth."
“How demoralizing is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma," he wrote. "Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic. As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved."
Menendez concluded his words by thanking those who have "reached out and supported" him.
On September 25, 24 members of the extended Menendez family also spoke out against the series, claiming that they have been "victimized" by the show and accusing Murphy of never reaching out to them. Erik's wife Tammi Menendez posted the joint statement to her X (formerly Twitter) account, dubbing it "the official response from Joan VanderMolen (Erik's Aunt) and the Menendez Family."
After beginning the statement by affirming that they "individually and collectively pray for [Lyle and Erik's] release after being imprisoned for 35 years," the family went on to call Monsters a "phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations."
This is the official response from Joan VanderMolen (Erik's Aunt) and the Menendez Family to the Netflix Series" "Monsters, the Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" and to Ryan Murphy.#Menendez #NetflixMonsters #RyanMurphy pic.twitter.com/o7KEOEoYwrSeptember 26, 2024
The statement continues by calling Monsters a "grotesque shockodrama" and "character assassination," specifically calling out the series for including the P.O.V. of "debunked Dominick Dunne." It adds that they "know what went on in their home and the unimaginably turbulent lives they have endured."
"It is sad that Ryan Murphy, Netflix, and all others involved in the series, do not have an understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse," the statement concludes.
The Menendezes are not the only one who has criticzed the controversial series. Over its first weekend of streaming, many viewers took to social media to call out the show for its depiction of Erik and Lyle's relationship, arguing that it implies that the brothers had an incestuous relationship and at times makes light of the abuse allegations the brothers brought against their father. Many have also pointed out new evidence that has come forth in recent years which allegedly corroborates the claims that José Menendez was sexually abusive.
The backlash against Monsters also calls back to the controversy against 2022's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Though Murphy and Brennan's previous series became one of Netflix's most-watched series, racking up over one billion hours watched and spurring the anthology that brought forth Monsters, it was also heavily criticized for revisiting the serial killer's heavily sensationalized story. Several family members of Dahmer's victims also claimed that the series retraumatized them.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight on September 23, Murphy responded to Erik's statement, defending Monsters' inclusion of multiple points of view on the case.
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” Murphy said of Menendez's criticism, per Variety. “It’s really, really hard—if it’s your life—to see your life up on screen.”
“The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote is, if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent of our show in the scripts and in the film form center around the abuse and what they claim happened to them,” he continued. “And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it."
"In this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse, talking about it and writing about it and writing about all points of view can be controversial," he continued. "It’s a Rashomon kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that. Two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
Murphy also addressed backlash regarding the implied "romantic relationship" between the brothers.
“If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case," he said. "Dominick Dunne [the Vanity Fair journalist played by Nathan Lane] wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view, just as we present Leslie Abramson's [played by Ari Graynor] point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that, and we did.”
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