The Menéndez Brothers' Family Speak Out Amid Monsters Backlash
Erik Menéndez’s family has joined him in condemning the new Netflix drama Monsters.
Season two of Ryan Murphy’s true crime anthology series debuted last week, and centres around Erik Menéndez and his brother Lyle, both of whom are currently serving life sentences for murdering their parents in the late 1980s.
Days after it began streaming, Erik Menéndez issued a statement slamming the show for perpetuating “horrible and blatant lies” about himself and his brother.
Since then, 24 members of the pair’s extended family have followed this with a group statement of their own.
Posted on Erik Menéndez’s wife’s X account, the statement reads: “We are virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menéndez. We are 24 strong and today we want the world to know we support Erik and Lyle.
“We individually and collectively pray for their release after being imprisoned for 35 years. We know them, love them, and want them home with us.”
The statement continued: “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.
“Our family has been victimised by this grotesque shockadrama.”
“The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a ‘storytelling narrative’ is repulsive,” they added.
“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.
“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.”
This is the official response from Joan VanderMolen (Erik's Aunt) and the Menendez Family to the Netflix Series" "Monsters, the Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" and to Ryan Murphy.#Menendez#NetflixMonsters#RyanMurphypic.twitter.com/o7KEOEoYwr
— Tammi Menendez (@TammiMenendez1) September 26, 2024
Ryan Murphy recently defended the show, claiming: “I think it’s interesting that [Erik Menéndez] issued a statement without having seen the show. I know he hasn’t seen the show in prison, [but] I hope he does see the show.”
He added: “The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote – and that nobody from that side of the aisle is talking about – is that if you watch the show, I would say 60-65% of our show, in the scripts and in the film form, centre around the abuse and what they claim happened to them.
“And we do it very carefully, and we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it.”
Ryan Murphy responds to Erik Menendez calling 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' a "dishonest portrayal." pic.twitter.com/xM7T3ebQ2H
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) September 24, 2024
The multi-award-winning producer also addressed the decision to include scenes suggesting the two brothers were at some point involved in a sexual relationship.
Season one of Monster centred around the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and was met with a similar amount of controversy upon its release in 2022.
It’s already been confirmed that production on a third instalment is due to get underway next month, this time focussing on a different murderer altogether.