“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has sparked major controversy following it’s release.
September 25th, 2024- Ryan Murphy, creator of Netflix’s hit series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is currently facing backlash as the show has been dubbed “vile and exploitative.”
Ryan Murphy Backlash
Murphy was recently interviewed by Entertainment Tonight to discuss his show’s controversy and the backlash he is currently facing.
@entertainmenttonight Ryan Murphy responds to Erik Menendez’s criticisms of his new crime anthology series, ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ #ryanmurphy #monsters #erikmenendez #netflix ♬ original sound – Entertainment Tonight
The ET reporter asked, “The Menendez brothers have been disappointed in the representation, what do you say to their backlash?”
Murphy replied, “I have many things to say about that. I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. 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, if you watch the show, I would say 60-65 per cent 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,” Murphy 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.”
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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Controversy
The ET reporter continued on to say, “People have been outspoken about this romantic relationship between the brothers.”
Murphy replied, “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,” Murphy said.
Entertainment Tonight posted the clip of the interview to Tik Tok, in which the comments were flooded with continued backlash.
One Tik Tok user commented, “All Ryan Murphy did was make the brothers come off as liars and manipulators. I’m appalled.”
Another user wrote, “It’s insane how confidently he speaks about writing a show about someone’s life that he’s never met. That shouldn’t even be legal.”
Erik Menendez’s Response
Erik Menendez’s wife, Tammi, recently took to X to share a statement from Erik about the Netflix series.
Erik’s response to the Netflix’s series.#NetflixMonsters #Netflix #RyanMurphy pic.twitter.com/Xz1waxA2u3
— Tammi Menendez (@TammiMenendez1) September 20, 2024
“In Erik’s words, ‘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,” Menendez said.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naïve and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent,” Menendez continued.
The rest of Menendez’s response can be found on Tammi’s official X page.
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Published by HOLR Magazine
Image Credit: @netflix Instagram