Erik Menendez Blasts Ryan Murphy’s Netflix Series ‘Monsters’

Real-life Menendez brother, Erik, has weighed in on Ryan Murphy‘s depiction of his past crimes in the brand new Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

In a web based statement posted via his wife Tammi Menendez’s X account, Menendez, who was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder along together with his brother Lyle for killing their parents, said that the drama series perpetrated “ruinous character portrayals” of them each. The statement also accused Murphy of getting bad intent because of the character of the narrative that the showrunner created.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I say, I imagine Ryan Murphy can’t be this naive and inaccurate concerning the facts of our lives in order to do that without bad intent,” Menendez wrote in his statement.

Menendez, who’s currently serving out a life sentence together with his brother Lyle on the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, Calif., calls out the series for reviving “dishonest” narratives about their lives, accusing the series of misrepresenting of male trauma and sexual abuse. He also states that he was saddened by what he perceives as a backward step in understanding childhood trauma, condemning the series for perpetuating damaging lies and slander. He ends his statement thanking those that have supported him and calls for truth to prevail.

Within the graphic miniseries, Javier Bardem plays the daddy, Jose Menendez, and Chloë Sevigny is forged as their mother, Kitty Menendez. Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch play their sons and murderers, Lyle and Erik Menendez.

Variety chief TV critic Aramide Tinubu strongly criticized the series, writing that “the show attempts to unpack the circumstances that led to the crime while highlighting Erik and Lyle’s trauma. But in the long run, the narrative feels futile and bizarre.” Read the complete review here.

Below is the complete statement from Menendez:

“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, making a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant within the show. I can only imagine they were done so on purpose. It’s with a heavy heart that I say, I imagine Ryan Murphy can’t be this naive and inaccurate concerning the facts of our lives in order to do that without bad intent.

“It is gloomy 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 weren’t sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma in a different way than women. Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims during the last twenty years who’ve 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 reality not enough? Let the reality stand as the reality. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine many years of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is rarely a solution, never an answer, and is all the time tragic. As such, I hope it is rarely forgotten that violence against a toddler creates 100 horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and infrequently exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those that have reached out and supported me, thanks from the underside of my heart.”