Ryan Murphy Defends ‘Monsters’ Amid Menendez Brothers’ Backlash: There Was an ‘Obligation’ to Depict Familial Sexual Abuse
Ryan Murphy is standing by his “Monsters” anthology series.
The creator, who also serves as a writer on the second installment “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” told Entertainment Tonight that the backlash from the real-life brothers and their family is separate from his “obligation as [a] storyteller” to present multiple theories.
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The series centers on Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) Menendez who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, Mary Louise “Kitty” (Chlo? Sevigny) and José Menendez (Javier Bardem) in 1989. The brothers alleged that they were the victims of sexual abuse; the prosecutors argued that the duo wanted to inherit their parents’ wealth upon their deaths.
The brothers were aged 21 and 18, respectively, at the time of the killings. Both siblings claimed that their father José had molested them starting at age 6.
The sexual abuse is depicted in the show, with Lyle also molesting Erik. The inclusion of incest in the series in part led to the real-life Menendez family slamming the series. Erik also issued a statement saying that “Monsters” is “rooted in horrible and blatant lies” and that both brothers have been depicted in “vile and appalling” ways.
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” Murphy said. “It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up onscreen.”
Murphy continued, “The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote, is if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent of our show in the scripts and in the film center 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.”
The extended Menendez family, though, have watched the series, and specifically cited how the released episodes have “no resemblance to reality whatsoever” on a social media page.
The family’s statement in part read: “So, these ‘writers/creators’ got up in the morning, ate their cornflakes, and went to an office where they decided to lie about rape survivors who have suffered every single day of their life. The professionals did this for money. How ironic. Never forget: There was more evidence of abuse in the first trial than there is in most successful child abuse prosecutions. […] They had a plethora of material to draw from, and this is what they chose to do????? It’s laughable. It’s pathetic. And it is re-victimizing. It is imaginary. It is fiction. And to put out into the world the absurd notion that the brothers were lovers is the height of pure evil. How convenient that the new evidence was never brought up! The truth is that I have no idea what I just watched because it bears no resemblance to reality or the human beings I know. […] Why don’t male sexual assault victims come forward? Because they are afraid to run into the likes of the people who created this trash.”
Murphy in turn said that the production had an “obligation” to present all theories of the crime.
“It’s a ‘Rashomon’ kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that,” Murphy said. “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.”
Murphy added, “If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case,” citing the included incest between the two brothers. “Dominick Dunne [the Vanity Fair journalist portrayed by Nathan Lane] wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that and we did.”
Netflix is also releasing a documentary titled “The Menendez Brothers” which features interviews with Lyle and Erik from prison. While Murphy is not involved in the doc, Netflix is cross-promoting the film with “Monsters.”
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