Ryan Murphy’s new series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has taken Netflix by storm. The show explores the infamous tale of the Menendez brothers—who killed their parents, Kitty and Jose, after enduring years of alleged sexual, mental, and physical abuse. Since its premiere on September 19, troves of people have tuned in, but not everyone is pleased with the series.
Erik Menendez recently criticized Monsters and its depiction of his brother, Lyle. “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayal of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” he wrote. “I can only believe they were done 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.”
On the show, Erik is portrayed as sensitive and shy, whereas Lyle has a more arrogant demeanor. The contrast creates friction between the brothers, especially during their trial. It’s not clear how much of the show Erik has seen, but whatever he did watch, apparently, feels inaccurate.
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths several steps backward,” he wrote. “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 disrupted 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.”
Erik concluded his statement with a message to Murphy. “Is the truth not enough?” he said. “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. 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.”
