Monsters creator hits back at Erik Menendez for saying Netflix show has 'inaccuracies'
Monsters director Ryan Murphy claims he has 'many thing to say' about Erik Menendez's criticism of the hit Netflix series.
Erik - who, with his brother Lyle, was sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents - released a statement over the weekend condemning producers, and implored fans to boycott the show due to its 'inaccuracies'.
The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story - the second instalment of the eerie true-crime franchise - landed on the streaming service last week, telling the story of the Beverly Hills brothers who shot their parents a total of 16 times at their family home, having allegedly been subjected to years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse.
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The brothers - portrayed by Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch - claimed their father José (Javier Bardem) had inflicted the abuse, while claiming their drug-dependent mother Mary Louise 'Kitty' (Chloë Sevigny) knew all along.
After evading police suspicion for some time, Erik confessed to the murder in a recorded conversation with his therapist, and the pair's televised court case became a national sensation.
Lyle and Erik were subsequently jailed without the possibility of parole, with their story having inspired American Horror Story director Ryan Murphy.
Yesterday, however, Erik Menendez released a statement slamming the creator for including 'blatant lies', as well as a 'vile portrayal' of his older brother Lyle.
Since Erik's statement hit the headlines, Murphy has addressed the killer's accusations in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
"I have many things to say about that," he began. "How long do you have?"
Murphy continued: "I think it's interesting that he's issued a statement without having seen the show. I know he hasn't seen the show in prison.
"I hope he does see the show. I think he sees the work that Cooper Koch did."
Murphy then went on: "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.
"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."
Days earlier, Erik has penned in a statement: "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.
"I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.
"It is sad 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 were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women."
Erik - who, with his brother, remains incarcerated in San Diego's Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility - went on to claim: "Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have 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."
Erik then asked: "Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as truth.
"How demoralising to know one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.
"As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved.
"To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
LADbible Group has contacted Netflix for a comment.
Topics: Netflix, TV And Film, Crime, True Crime, US News
Rhianna Benson