Ryan Murphy Says the Menéndez Brothers 'Should be Sending Me Flowers' amid Backlash Over "Monsters" Release

10/02/2024 08:29 PM

Murphy believes Lyle and Erik Menéndez should be expressing gratitude over the success of his latest Netflix show and the "attention" they are receiving

Lyle and Erik Menéndez may not be thrilled with the series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, which is based on their lives,but the show's co-creator Ryan Murphy believes the two incarcerated brothers should see things differently.

Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, Oct. 1 that he and co-creator Ian Brennan "set out to do exactly what we wanted to do."

"The Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers," Murphy, 58, shared. "They haven't had so much attention in 30 years. And it's gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There's sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case."

"I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did," he continued. "There is no world that we live in where the Menéndez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, 'You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.' That was never going to happen, and I wasn't interested in that happening."

Related: Who Were the Menendez Brothers' Parents? Inside the Lives of José and Kitty Menendez Before Their 1989 Murders

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story — which premiered in September — revisits Lyle and Erik Menéndez's lives and the murder of their mom Kitty and dad José Menéndez in 1989. The two were tried separately in 1993 then again jointly in 1995, until they were convicted in 1996 for the murder of their parents and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

While Murphy has said that the show "responsibly" covers male sexual abuse, the brothers disagreed, with Erik, 53, explaining in a statement tweeted by his wife Tammi Menéndez on Thursday, Sept. 19 that he didn't feel his and Lyle's story was properly represented.

"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," Erik said. "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."

Murphy, for his part, explained to The Hollywood Reporter that he and Brennan felt that they had an "obligation" to tell the stories of other people in the Erik and Lyle's orbit, including their parents.

Related: See the Cast of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Side-by-Side with the Real People They Play

"The thing that the Menéndez brothers and their people neglect is that we were telling a story that was a very broad canvas. We were telling the story of Dominick Dunne [played by Nathan Lane], of Leslie Abramson [played by Ari Graynor]," he continued. "We were also telling the story of the parents [José and Kitty Menéndez, played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny], who they blew their heads off; we were also telling their story. We had an obligation to so many people, not just to Erik and Lyle. But that's what I find so fascinating; that they're playing the victim card right now — 'poor, pitiful us' — which I find reprehensible and disgusting."

He also acknowledged that the brothers' journey is complex, praising Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch for portraying Lyle and Erik respectively.

"Two things can be true at the same time," Murphy explained. "I think they could have killed their parents, and also had been abused. They could have been of ambiguous moral character as young people, and be rehabilitated now. So I think that story is complicated. I'm thrilled with the reaction to it. I'm really thrilled with how people are responding to the performances, particularly of Cooper and Nicholas, who really killed themselves to do justice to those boys."

He added: "I think Cooper and Nicholas are much more empathetic toward the Menéndez brothers than I am, but good. There's room for all points of view."

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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is now available to stream on Netflix.

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