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Erik Menendez has described the new Netflix series Monster: The story of Lyle and Erik Menendez as a “dishonest portrayal” of the crimes he committed with his brother Lyle and accused 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 in March 1990 on charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder outside their home and sentenced to life in prison in 1996. In 2024, new evidence emerged that could lead to their release.
The siblings are serving life sentences at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Monster Starring Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as José and Kitty, and Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as brothers, the drama is about the horrific sexual abuse that Lyle and Erik attribute to their father, but Erik Menendez has accused Murphy of twisting the truth.
Menendez responded to the series in a statement posted by his wife Tammi on X/Twitter, saying, “I thought we had moved beyond the lies and devastating character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle based on horrific and obvious lies that were rampant on the show. I can only believe they were done on purpose.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must say that I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives that he can do this without malicious intent.
“It saddens me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crimes pushes painful truths back several steps – back to an era when prosecutors built their narrative on a belief system that said men were not sexually assaulted and that men experienced rape trauma differently than women.
“These horrific lies have been denied and exposed over the past two decades by countless brave victims who have overcome their personal shame and courageously spoken out about it. And now Murphy is shaping his horrific narrative through vile and horrifying character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slanders.
He continued: “Is the truth not enough? Let the truth be truth. How demoralizing it is to know that one man with power can undo decades of progress in resolving childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and always tragic.”
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“I therefore hope that it will never be forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrific and silent crime scenes, hidden behind glitz and glamour, that only come to light when the tragedy shocks everyone involved. I thank everyone who helped and supported me from the bottom of my heart.”
The Independent has reached out to Murphy’s representative for comment.
Since the series hit Netflix on Thursday, viewers have taken to social media to warn others about the graphic nature of the violence depicted in the series.
