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Ryan Murphy Claims Incarcerated Menendez Brothers Should Thank Him For All Attention They Are Getting Amid Monsters Backlash
Ryan Murphy defends Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story after receiving criticism, stating the brothers owes him the renewed worldwide attention on them.
Ryan Murphy feels that Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who are incarcerated, should thank him since they received immense publicity from the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Murphy believes they should be grateful to his show, even if the brothers are not pleased with how their lives have been portrayed. The series has brought their story back into the spotlight internationally, which had not happened in the past decades.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Murphy said, "The Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers. They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years." Murphy stressed that he and Ian Brennan, co-creator of the series, have achieved their creative goals with the show.
He said that as a result of the show, many people have come out in support of the Menendez brothers, even though from the very beginning, the brothers themselves and their lawyers were never going to be happy with how their lives were presented in the show.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story debuted in September and focuses on the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez's trials and their ultimate conviction in 1996, where they were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. However, Murphy has maintained that the show does not glorify the sensitive subjects tackled.
To Murphy, following the traditional narrative of the story and accurately representing the Menendez brothers didn’t seem very important. He dismissively said that in no conceivable scenario would the Menéndez brothers, or their legal representatives endorse the portrayal in the show as an accurate and commendable depiction of their lives. Murphy was never interested in such an outcome, to begin with.
Erik Menendez, 53, through his wife Tammi’s tweet, expressed anger over how their narrative was misrepresented. He implied that the makers of the show distorted the facts about his and his brother's lives on purpose. To this, Murphy responded, calling them out for playing the victim card even at this juncture.
He told the aforementioned outlet, "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."
Despite the backlash, the actors Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch received some praise from Ryan Murphy for their delicate enactments of Erik and Lyle. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available now on Netflix.
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