Erik Menendez criticizes Ryan Murphy's “Monsters” for “dishonest portrayal”

Warning: The following post contains discussions of sexual assault and child abuse.

Erik Menendez talks about Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezthe season of the Netflix anthology Monster The book dramatizes the murder he and his brother committed in 1989 of their parents José and Kitty Menendez, for which they are serving a life sentence.

“I thought we had moved beyond the lies and devastating character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle based on horrific and obvious lies that were rampant on the show. I can only believe they were done on purpose,” Erik wrote in a statement posted on X by his wife Tammi. “It is with a heavy heart that I say I believe [co-creator] Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives that he can do this without malicious intent.”

As the show's synopsis summarizes, prosecutors in the Menendez brothers' case argued that the brothers murdered their parents in order to inherit the family fortune. But the brothers claimed that they committed the crimes after years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by their parents. Specifically, Erik and Lyle claimed that José sexually abused them as children. People reports.

“It saddens me to know that Netflix, with its dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime, has pushed the painful truths back several steps – back to a time when prosecutors built a narrative on the belief system that men were not sexually assaulted and that men experienced rape trauma differently than women,” Erik added in his statement. “These horrific lies have been refuted and exposed over the past two decades by countless brave victims who have overcome their personal shame and courageously spoken out about it. And now Murphy is shaping his horrific narrative through vile and horrifying character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slanders. Is the truth not enough? Let the truth be truth.”

In the series, Cooper plays chef Erik, Nicholas Alexander Chavez plays Lyle, Javier Bardem plays José and Chloë Sevigny plays Kitty.

Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan turned their attention to the Menendez brothers after covering the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. MonsterThe first season of “The 40 Years of Crime” sparked numerous controversies, including strong reactions from the families of Dahmer’s victims.

In his statement about MonsterErik said: “How demoralising it is to know that one man with power can undo decades of progress in understanding childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution and always tragic. So I hope it will never be forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrific and silent crime scenes, darkly hidden behind glitz and glamour, rarely revealed until the tragedy penetrates all those involved. To all those who have helped and supported me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual violence, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know has been a victim of child abuse, contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453). If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911.

Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik MenendezStream now, Netflix