As audiences already find themselves divided on the new season, Erik Menendez has some sharp critiques for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The show marks the second season of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology on Netflix, chronicling the infamous story of the titular brothers as they murdered their parents in 1989 and eventually went on trial in 1996, where they received life sentences without the possibility of parole. Led by Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Cooper Koch, Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, Monsters season 2 has proven just as controversial as its predecessor, namely for its depiction of the brothers.
On the heels of its premiere, Erik Menendez (via Deadline) wrote on his Facebook page a lengthy post criticizing Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Menendez began his post expressing disappointment with how the show portrayed him and his brother, feeling it to be “dishonest” and that the media had “moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle“. He also goes on to express disbelief that Murphy is “this naive and inaccurate” regarding the facts of his story:
I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes 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. 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 — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.
Menendez goes on to criticize the way the media have depicted both of the brothers throughout the years, particularly because there have been “countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out.” He goes on to ask “is the truth not enough?” and expresses a “demoralizing” feeling that with the show, Murphy “can undermine decades of progress in shining light on childhood trauma“. Menendez closes out his message by thanking “all those who have reached out and supported me“:
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. Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shining light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic. As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Will Audiences Stray Away From Watching Murphy’s Show?
Menendez’s comments about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story are sure to be disconcerting for those intrigued to watch Murphy’s latest tackling of an infamous true crime. The Emmy winner initially got off to a strong start in The People v. O.J. Simpson — American Crime Story, which was lauded for its fast pace and general adherence to the facts of the real trial, even if some of the real people involved were critical of it. Subsequent seasons in both American Crime Story and the first season of Monsters, however, were far more divisive, as can be seen in the table below showing their comparison on Rotten Tomatoes:
Title | RT Critical Score | RT Audience Score |
|---|---|---|
The People v. O.J. Simpson — American Crime Story | 97% | 94% |
The Assassination of Gianni Versace — American Crime Story | 88% | 93% |
Impeachment — American Crime Story | 69% | 82% |
DAHMER: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — Monsters | 57% | 82% |
The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — Monsters | 71% | 64% |
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez | 75% | N/A |
In looking at the audience scores for his shows, it’s clear that Murphy’s defenders have generally stuck with him even as his true-crime projects have become increasingly divisive. As such, it doesn’t seem likely that Monsters season 2 will see viewers turn away from watching The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, even in spite of Erik’s criticisms regarding its factual accuracy. The show’s first season, Dahmer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, earned widespread backlash, but still became only the third Netflix show to pass 1 billion views within its first 60 days.
Our Take On Menendez’s Monsters Season 2 Criticisms
Regardless of how the show performs in the long run, Menendez’s criticisms show that it’s time for Murphy to reconsider his approach to the true crime genre moving forward. After The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Murphy has multiple installments in both his American Crime Story and Monster anthologies, including the JFK Jr. spinoff, American Love Story, and season 3 of the latter that will star Charlie Hunnam as infamous serial killer Ed Gein, a key inspiration in creating Psycho‘s Norman Bates.
Some true-crime stories certainly lend themselves better to Murphy’s iconic flair for the extreme, but even with a show like Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which doesn’t necessarily look to glorify its titular figures, a sense of sensitivity is still appreciated not only by myself, but also by the figures involved on either side of something like a murder trial. With Monsters season 3 still in the pre-production stage, I hope that Murphy listens to not only Menendez’s criticisms, but those from his previous shows, to course correct for a more meaningful depiction of the other stories he has in the works.
Source: Erik Menendez/Facebook (via Deadline)
