Netflix's new show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, helmed by Ryan Murphy and starring Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as Menendez brothers Lyle and Erik, is ruffling quite a few feathers after its premiere.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story follows the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were found guilty of the 1989 murders of their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, claiming they had endured years of alleged sexual abuse by their father. The duo were later tried and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
ICYMI: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is actually the second installment in the Monster anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, and follows 2022's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which starred Evan Peters and Niecy Nash-Betts. The anthology series will continue on with a third installment centering on suspected serial killer and grave robber Ed Gein, starring Charlie Hunnam as Gein.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story premiered on Netflix on September 19, 2024, and it immediately claimed the top spot on Netflix's English TV List with 12.3M views, ranking in the Top 10 in 89 countries. However, not everyone is happy with the depiction of the Menendez brothers. Below, see the full timeline of how the Menendez family and cast and crew have responded and contributed to the criticism of the show.
Sept. 20: Erik Menendez condemns the show for its representation of Lyle.
Shortly after the show's release on Netflix, Erik Menendez accused the show of being "rooted in horrible and blatant lies" with a statement shared through his wife Tammi's X account.
"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 Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent," Erik claimed.
"It is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward," Erik continued. "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."
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Sept. 23: Ryan Murphy responds to Erik's comments and defends the show.
Ryan Murphy responded to Erik's criticism of the show while speaking to E! News at the premiere of Grotesquerie. "I know he hasn't watched the show, so I find that curious, I know this for a fact. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it, he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch, who plays him."
"Our view and what we wanted to do [with the show] was present you with all the facts and at the end of it 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," Murphy added.
"60 to 65% [of the show] 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 and then some. In fact, we have a 30-minute episode that Cooper Koch does so brilliantly that is just Erik's words about what happened to him and why he did what he did."
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Murphy echoed the sentiments, adding: “Talking about it and writing about it and writing about all points of view can be controversial. It's a Rashomon kind of approach, where there were four people involved, two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
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Sept. 25: More cast members respond to criticism.
As reported by Variety, other stars from the show, including Cooper Koch, who plays Erik, also responded to the controversy and Erik's reaction with their own statements.
"[Erik's reaction] definitely affected me, and it made me feel things," Koch reportedly admitted. "I sympathize with him; I empathize with him. I get it. I understand how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised for millions of people to see. It's so exposing. I understand how he feels and I stand by him. In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him."
Javier Bardem, who plays José Menéndez in the show, said Erik's response was "absolutely normal, logical and legitimate" given that it is his "own life being on a show." He added: "Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give different perspectives, different views of the same issue because nothing is set in stone. That also includes the way to perform the character. We have to be open as actors to play and shift from one perspective to the other, depending on who are who is telling the story."
Sept. 26: The Menendez family issues a collective statement calling the show a “phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare”
Shortly after Murphy's comments spread, Tammi Menendez issued a statement on behalf of the family to her X account.
"Ryan Murphy's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations," the statement reads. “Our family has been victimized by this grotesque shockadrama. Murphy claims he spent years researching the case but in the end relied on debunked Dominick Dunne, the pro-prosecution hack, to justify his slander against us and never spoke to us.”
"The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a 'story telling narrative' is repulsive. We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys. We love them and to this very day we are close to them. We also know what went on in their home and the unimaginably turbulent lives they have endured. Several of us were eyewitnesses to many atrocities one should never have to bear witness to," the statement continued. “It is sad that Ryan Murphy, Netflix, and all others involved in this series, do not have an understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Perhaps, after all, Monsters is all about Ryan Murphy.”
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This post will continue to be updated as more public statements are issued. Teen Vogue has reached out to Netflix for additional comments.
