Ryan Murphy Responded After A Real-Life Menendez Brother Called His Netflix Series "Blatant Lies"

Warning: Discussion of sexual abuse and murder.

Ryan Murphy defended his new Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story after much criticism.

The second season of the anthology show depicts Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents in the '90s. The brothers testified that they killed their parents in self-defense after being sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by their father with the knowledge of their mother. The prosecution argued that the brothers, then 18 and 21, killed their parents for money. New evidence in 2023 included a letter written by Erik that appeared to corroborate his claims of abuse. The brothers remain in prison to this day.

If you want a full exploration of the criticism of the Netflix adaptation of their lives, I highly recommend reading my coworker Nora's breakdown. One key component is that many have questioned why the Menendez brothers, who were likely victims in their own right, were put into the Monster series after a season on Jeffrey Dahmer.

Another criticism stems from the fact that the show implies that Erik and Lyle had an incestuous relationship, which includes a scene where the brothers kiss.

Erik himself responded to the show via a statement from his wife, where he wrote, "I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show."

Twitter: @TammiMenendez1

As the show hits the top of the Netflix charts, Ryan responded directly to Erik's criticism in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show," Ryan responded. "It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen."

"The thing that I find interesting [is] that he doesn't mention in his quote is, if you watch the show, I would say 60–65% of our show in the scripts and in the film form center around the abuse and what they claimed happened to them. And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it," the co-creator continued.

"In this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse, talking about it and writing about it and writing about all points of view can be controversial. It's a Rashomon kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that, two of them are dead," Ryan said. "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."

When asked about the "romantic" relationship between the brothers onscreen, Ryan said, "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. [Reporter] Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view, just as we present [defense attorney] Leslie Abramson's point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that, and we did."

It's worth noting that Robert Rand, a reporter who covered the case and wrote a book on the brothers, told the Hollywood Reporter in response to the show, "I don’t believe that Erik and Lyle Menendez were ever lovers. I think that’s a fantasy that was in the mind of Dominick Dunne... Rumors were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves. But I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified... I certainly wouldn’t call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It’s a response to trauma."

Netflix will be back at it with a documentary about the brothers, airing Oct. 7.

Twitter: @netflix

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.