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Erik Menendez has described the new Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story as a “dishonest portrayal” of the crimes he committed with his brother Lyle, accusing the show’s creator Ryan Murphy of “disheartening slander.”
The Menendez brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty. They were arrested for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder outside their home in March 1990 and sentenced to life in prison in 1996. In 2024, new evidence emerged that has the potential to set them free.
Monsters stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as José and Kitty, with Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as the brothers. The drama includes the harrowing sexual abuse that Lyle and Erik alleged to have been perpetrated by their father, but Erik Menendez has accused Murphy of distorting the truth.
Menendez responded to the series in a statement posted to X/Twitter by his wife, Tammi. It reads: “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.
“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.
“Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.
He continued: “Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.
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“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. To all those who have reached out and supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
The Independent has contacted Murphy’s representative for comment.
Since the series arrived on Netflix on Thursday, viewers have been cautioning others on social media about the graphic nature of the violence depicted in the show.
