Ryan Murphy has once again created another true-crime series. On September 19, 2024, all episodes of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story were released. After receiving major success for Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, released in 2022, Ryan Murphy wasn’t done.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, stars Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as Lyle and Erik Mendez. The real-life Menendez brothers murdered their parents in August 1989, and have been in prison since they were convicted in 1996. The series brings light to different theories people have made about the brothers and why they committed the murders. A few of the theories people have speculated are self-defense, incest, financial gain, etc. The way the series portrays the brothers is controversial due to a lot of scenes being inaccurate to the way the brothers actually acted in real life.
Ryan Murphy portrays the majority of the characters as violent and cold. The real-life brothers have come out and said the portrayal of them being in an incestuous relationship is a blatant lie. Erik Menendez has come out with a statement about the series, posted by his wife Tammi Menendez on X. In a part of Erik’s statement, he said “I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.” Ryan Murphy’s response to Erik’s statement was calling the show “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.” He also said his statements were “interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show.”
Netflix’s inaccurate portrayal of the brothers and their crime has brought the tragic truths to the case several steps back. The series has brought the narrative back to the belief system that males aren’t sexually abused, and that males experience rape trauma differently than women. A majority of the scenes in Monsters are based on far-fetched theories people have made about the brothers since the time of their story being made public.
Most of the controversy surrounding the show can’t be proven because the only people who know the truth are the brothers themselves. All the public can do is help sexual abuse victims get justice, and this can be done through more education and investigation on these situations.
