Menendez family slam Netflix and Monsters creator over 'gross' show 'riddled with mistruths'
The family of Lyle and Erik Menendez are once again showing their support to the jailed brothers by condemning the brand-new Netflix crime drama inspired by their crime.
The news comes just days after Erik himself - who, with Lyle, was jailed in 1994 for the brutal murder of his abusive parents - released a statement imploring viewers to boycott the nine-part show, claiming it was riddled with 'inaccuracies'.
The true-crime hit - directed by American Horror Story boss Ryan Murphy landed on the streaming service last week (17 September) and has since left viewers divided over its harrowing nature and controversial portrayals of the case.
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Amongst those to have taken aim at producers for releasing the series is Erik Menendez, who is still serving his life sentence at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. along with his older brother, Lyle.
Back in 1989, the duo violently murdered their parents José and Kitty Menendez with a shotgun at their Beverly Hills home.
The pair were eventually arrested - after Erik confessed the crimes to his psychologist - and their subsequently televised court case became a media sensation, during which they claimed to have acted in self-defence after being subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father.
In a statement released by his wife Tammi since the show aired, however, the real Erik Menendez branded the series 'vile' and accused both Murphy and other Netflix producers of including 'blatant lies' about the brothers' crimes.
Now, the pair's family are getting behind them once again - having initially supported their sexual abuse testimonies in court - and have also hit out at the streaming service bosses for releasing the show.
"We are virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menendez," their statement began. "We have 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."
It continued: "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 victimised by this grotesque shockadrama. Murphy claims hge spent years researching the case but in the end relied on debunked Dominick Dunne, the pro-prosecution hack, to justify his slander against us and never spoke to us."
The family went on: "The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a 'storytelling narrative' is repulsive.
"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."
The statement continued: "Several of us were eyewitnsses 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."
Murphy previously responded to Erik's criticism of the show, slamming the brothers for having a say, despite not having seen the series from behind bars.
"Listen, I think it's really, really hard if it's your life to see your life up on screen. I think it's been 30 years since that case - that's hard," he told Entertainment Tonight earlier this week.
"The thing I find interesting that he doesn't mention in his quote, and that nobody from that side of the aisle is talking about, is if you watch the show, I would say 60-65 percent of our show in the scripts and in the film form centre around the abuse and what they claim happened to them.
"And we do it carefully, and we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it.
"We present the facts from their point of view. We spent three years researching it - all of that is true.
"I had such a huge team - and I do when we do these biopics - so I think that's really interesting and people should know that.
"I also understand what's interesting is, in this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse - which I didn't have when I was younger - talking about it and writing about it, and writing about all points of view can be controversial.
"The interesting thing that I think about Monsters this season is it’s a ‘Rashomon’ kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that. 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."
Topics: True Crime, Crime, Netflix, TV And Film, US News
Rhianna Benson