Ryan Murphy's second season of his true crime Netflix series, "Monster," has garnered plenty of attention since its debut on Thursday, but not all of it is positive.
"Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story" follows the show's first and wildly successful installment, which focused on Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, played by "American Horror Story" alum, Evan Peters, which people were also not thrilled about, due to its glamorization of a literal killer.
Starring Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as Lyke and Erik, "Monsters" presents a fictional account of the brothers' 1996 killing of their parents José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, respectively.
Following the massive success of "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," one could assume the nine-episode dramatization of the Menendez brothers would perform equally as well — Murphy seemed so confident in its success, in fact, that he recently announced a third season, which will reportedly see Charlie Hunnam portray the notorious 20th-century murderer and grave robber, Ed Gein.
However, as the reviews of "Monsters" begin to pour in, some viewers have hit out at its portrayal of Erik and Lyle — namely, its suggestion that the brothers had some sort of incestuous relationship. In the second episode, after the boys have already killed their parents, they exchange a kiss on the lips while they discuss future plans. Later in the episode, while attending a party, the brothers dance intimately, do cocaine together, and share several other sexually charged interactions.
In the seventh episode, journalist Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) implies that the Menendez brothers shared a physically intimate bond. Viewers then see a cutaway scene in which Kitty catches the boys together in the shower. As noted by TODAY, the real-life Dunne never hypothesized about the brothers-to-lovers pipeline during his coverage of the trial in the '90s.
In a story already laced with allegations of interfamilial physical and sexual abuse, it's understandable that some views of the series could have found the seemingly unfounded theory distressing.
"I do not understand why Ryan Murphy made it seem like Erik and Lyle Menendez had an incestuous kind of relationship….," one X/Twitter user wrote. "like c’mon now. just pissed me tf off."
“This is terrible,” another X/Twitter user argued, alongside a clip of the brothers kissing. “Why are they portraying the Menendez brothers this way??? They never enjoyed doing these things. What kind of Pov is this??? We need empathy not sexualization.”
Others slammed Murphy directly. “If Ryan wanted to make a show about twin brothers developing an intimate relationship with each other due to shared sexual trauma and parental abuse, then he should’ve written a new story," another X user tweeted. "You don’t get to rewrite the experience of real people and REAL VICTIMS to suit yourself!”
This latest series is not the first time Murphy has faced criticism for his fictionalized true crime accounts. Despite the popularity of "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," Murphy still received backlash for "romanticizing" a story about a man who killed 17 men and boys. Some surviving relatives of Dahmer's victims claimed the series retraumatized them, and claimed they had never been contacted about the show's production. Rita Isbell, sister of Errol Lindsey — one of Dahmer's victims — wrote in a 2022 essay for Insider detailing her frustration. "I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it," Isbell said. "They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.” Isbell added, “But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid.”
