Netflix is ​​trying to capitalize on the success of its third most-watched series of all time, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, by having creator Ryan Murphy make an entire series about famous killers. This has now led to the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which immediately shot to the top of Netflix’s top 10 list and will likely stay there.

The show tells the story of two brothers who murdered their parents, were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. And as is often the case, the protagonists are not very amused by their portrayal there.

The show has drawn a response from Erik Menendez himself, who is currently serving his life sentence and is now 53 years old. Here is what he said in a recent statement:

“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 this was 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 to do this without malicious intent.

“It saddens me to know that Netflix, with its dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime, has pushed the painful truths back several steps – back to a time when prosecutors built a narrative on the belief system that 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 bravely 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.”

“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 understanding childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and always tragic. So I hope it will never be forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrific and silent crime scenes, darkly hidden behind glitz and glamour, rarely revealed until the tragedy penetrates all those involved. To all those who have helped and supported me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

It’s not fleshed out which scenes Erik might object to in the series. The focus is on the abuse Erik and Lyle suffered at the hands of their father, including a one-off episode in which Erik has an entire conversation describing the nature of his abuse in extremely graphic detail. The boys aren’t exactly portrayed as heroes, but the abuse they endured is a major part of the story. However, it’s no surprise that they might not like their portrayal in a series like this, given the context. We’ll see if Lyle speaks out on that, or if it provokes a response from Murphy or Netflix. Last time, Murphy had to deal with the wrath of the families of Dahmer’s victims. Now he’s a murderer himself.

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