Ryan Murphy is defending his Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which has stirred up plenty of controversy following its release.
The series, which is meant to depict the events surrounding the Menendez murders enacted by brothers Erik and Lyle against their parents, has come under fire from audiences and even Erik Menendez himself for being a “dishonest portrayal.” And Murphy is now defending the show against such claims in a recent red carpet interview with E! News.
“I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious,” Murphy told the outlet regarding Erik Menendez’s response to Monsters. “I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch who plays him.”
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Koch portrays Erik and Nicholas Alexander Chavez portrays Lyle in the nine-episode season which launched on Wednesday, September 18.
“It’s a 35, 30-year-old case,” Murphy added. “We show many, many, many perspectives. That’s what the show does in every episode. You are given a new theory based on people who were either involved [in] or covered the case. Some of the controversy seems to be people thinking, for example, that the brothers are having an incestuous relationship,” Murphy offered. “There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it did happen.”
“We know how it ended,” Murphy continued. “We know two people were brutally shot. Our view and what we wanted to do was present you all the facts and have you do two things: make up your own mind about who’s innocent, who’s guilty, and who’s the monster, and also have a conversation about something that’s never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly.”
A majority of the show, Murphy pointed out, “centers around Eric and Lyle Menendez talking about their abuse, talking about their victimization, talking about what it emotionally put them through, those two boys in our show get their moment in court,” Murphy added, noting a 30-minute installment where Koch takes the stand in court and it’s “just Erik’s words about what happened to him and why he did what he did.”
As mentioned, above, the real Erik Menendez released a statement via his wife Tammi on social media that read, “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 [co-creator] Ryan Murphy cannot be this naïve and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Streaming now, Netflix