Erik and Lyle Menendez’s extended family has lashed out against Ryan Murphy and Netflix for spreading “outright falsehoods” in Monsters, saying the series' “gross” portrayal of the brothers likely reveals more about its creator than the notorious siblings.
The punchy statement—written by Joan Vandermolen, the maternal aunt of the brothers, and published by Tammi Menendez, Erik’s wife—said the family has been “victimized” by the series, which has sparked backlash for its coarse retelling of the infamous 1989 murders of the Menendez parents.
“We are virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menendez. 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 shared Thursday opened.
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“Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez 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 victimized by this grotesque shockadrama.”
The family took direct aim at Murphy, suggesting the television writer had represented his own ego in the limited series: “Perhaps, after all, Monsters is all about Ryan Murphy.”
The show has received its most pointed criticism over its scenes depicting an incestuous relationship between the brothers, a theory the siblings have strenuously denied.
Murphy has defended his portrayal, claiming that its "presenting the points of view and theories from so many people," including Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne, who famously documented the trials. The Menendez family, however, has maintained that Dunne's reporting is flawed.
“Murphy claims he spent years researching the case but in the end relied on debunked Dominick Dunne, the pro-prosecution hack, the justify his slander against us and never spoke to us,” they said.
“The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a ‘story telling narrative’ is repulsive," they continued. “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,” the statement added.
The show has shot to the top of Netflix streaming charts in multiple countries.
The brothers, who were sentenced to life without parole for the murders in 1996, have criticized the explicit incest scenes and the series’ depictions of sexual abuse suffered by them.
“Is the truth not enough? How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma,” Erik wrote in a post to his brother’s Facebook.
“When the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape and trauma differently than women.”
A Facebook post from Erik also said that anyone who had seen any testimony given by Lyle “knows that Murphy created a fictional character.”
Lyle has encouraged viewers criticizing the show to “keep speaking out.”
