According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Glee) has responded to the first account backlash for his newest series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The series is the second season of co-creator Murphy’s true-crime anthology, following events of famous murder accounts. This newest installment received negative thoughts from Erik Menedez, which Murphy commented on.
The Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, via The Hollywood Reporter. While the two are imprisoned at the Donovan Correctional Facility and have no access to watch the series, Erik commented on social media through his wife, Tammi Menendez. Erik had the following to say on X: “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. 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.”
While on the red carpet for his upcoming series Grotesquerie, Murphy said, “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” as per The Hollywood Reporter. He continued by saying, “The thing that I find interesting that [Erik] 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. 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.”
The show is also receiving criticism for the incestuous nature of the brothers’ relationship, to which Murphy responded, “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. Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view, just as we present Leslie Abramson’s point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that, and we did” via The Hollywood Reporter.
While Erik, in his response, continued saying, “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.” He concluded, “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 [sic] do this without bad intent.” It was announced that Netflix is producing a documentary on the case, with first-person interviews with the two brothers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Premiering October 7, 2024, the documentary is titled The Menendez Brothers.