Convicted murder Erik Menendez is sharing his scathing opinion of Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Erik and his brother Lyle Menendez were convicted of brutally murdering their parents in their home in Beverly Hills in 1989, and both brothers are currently serving life in prison sentences.
Erik, 53, shared his thoughts on the miniseries on Lyle’s Facebook page, calling out Murphy for what he called its ‘horrible,’ ‘blatant lies’ in the series.
‘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,’ Erik’s lengthy post began.
‘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.’
Convicted murder Erik Menendez is sharing his scathing opinion of Ryan Murphy ‘s new Netflix limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story; Murphy is seen September 16 in LA
Erik and his brother Lyle Menendez were convicted of brutally murdering their parents in their home in Beverly Hills in 1989, and both brothers are currently serving life in prison sentences; pictured together in 1990
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Shocking story of Menendez brothers who shot their parents, as Netflix Monsters dramatises case
Erik is portrayed in the series by Cooper Koch, while Lyle is played in the series by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.
Javier Bardem plays their father José Menendez and Chloë Sevigny plays their mother Kitty.
He continued: ‘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.’
Monsters premiered on Netflix on September 19 and depicts the brothers as spoiled brats who went on a spending spree after they gunned down their parents.
Later in the series, the sexual abuse of the brothers from both of their parents is shown, which alludes to Lyle and Erik’s real motives for the killings.
‘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,’ Erik pointed out.
‘So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,’ he wrote.
The Wrap called Murphy’s version of Lyle and Erik’s story ‘salacious and exploitative.’
‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story gives its audience reasons to doubt the guilty verdict. There’s no denying these two committed the crime, but their motives will always be called into question,’ the outlet wrote.
‘Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that 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 glamor 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,’ he concluded.
The 53-year-old shared his thoughts on Lyle’s Facebook page, calling out Murphy for the ‘horrible’ and ‘blatant lies’ in the series
‘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,’ Erik’s lengthy post began
Back in the spotlight: Lyle, left, and Erik, right, Menendez were just 22 and 19 when they entered their parents Beverley Hills home armed with 12-gauge shotguns and killed them in cold blood in a case that shocked the US
‘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’
Erik is portrayed in the series by Cooper Koch, while Lyle is played in the series by Nicholas Alexander Chavez. Javier Bardem plays their father José Menendez and Chloë Sevigny plays their mother Kitty
He continued: ‘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’
The Wrap called Murphy’s version of Lyle and Erik’s story ‘salacious and exploitative.’ ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story gives its audience reasons to doubt the guilty verdict. There’s no denying these two committed the crime, but their motives will always be called into question,’ the outlet wrote
In a second post Erik trashed Murphy’s characterization of his brother Lyle.
‘Obviously, anyone who watched the testimony of Lyle or any testimony about Lyle knows that Murphy created a fictional character.
‘The character was so over the top and absurd that even if this was billed as fiction, it would be boring, ridiculous, unimaginative, and clearly written by writers who perhaps should have been writing the deep dialogue that shows up in porn movies,’ the post read.
‘Yes, I know I keep saying the same things in ways that are not so eloquent, but guess what?????? I am not a professional writer. What is their excuse?????’