Warning: this article mentions sexual abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The actor behind Lyle Menendez in Netflix’s hit new series of Monsters has responded to his real-life counterpart’s brother, Erik, slamming the show.
Erik released a statement from jail, via his wife Tammi, in which he called the Netflix series ‘blatant lies’, slamming in particular the show’s portrayal of his brother Lyle.
An extract of the statement reads: “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.
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"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.”
Erik and Lyle Menendez, who became infamous for killing their parents in 1989, accused their father Jose of sexually abusing them.
Whilst this is covered in the show, Erik was not pleased with the show's creator, Ryan Murphy's portrayal of it.
Erik went on to say:
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“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.
“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.”
The actor who portrays Lyle in the show, Nicolas Alexander Chavez, told USA Today: “I can only respond with sympathy and empathy in that I can only imagine how difficult it is to have the most traumatic moment of your life put up there on the screen for everyone to see.”
Alexander Chavez is not the first person linked to the show to respond to the criticism from Erik.
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The statement elicited a response from the show’s creator Ryan Murphy, who said: “What about the parents? We had an obligation to storytellers to also try and put in their perspective, based on our research, which we did.”
He went on to point to the fact the show is ’60 to 65 per cent’ focused on their abuse, saying: “We do it very carefully, and we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it, we present the facts from their point of view."
Monsters is the second season of Murphy's Netflix true crime show.
Season one focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, and season three will focus on serial killer Ed Gein.
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Charlie Hunnam is set to star as Gein.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is on Netflix now.
Topics: TV and Film, Menendez Brothers, Celebrity, Netflix
Michael Slavin