Monsters creator Ryan Murphy has hit back after the Menéndez brothers’ extended family issued a statement slamming his show.
The latest season of the Netflix true crime anthology series centres around Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who are both currently serving life sentences for the murders of their parents in the late 1980s.
Although during their trial, the brothers insisted they’d acted in self-defence after years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, the prosecution argued their motivation was financial.
This is all explored in the latest season of Monsters, which has divided opinion and sparked a wave of controversy.
In particular, Erik Menéndez has accused the show of perpetuating “horrible and blatant lies” about himself and his brother, while more than 40 members of the brothers’ family called Monsters “repulsive” in a group statement.
“The family’s response is predictable at best,” Ryan Murphy told Variety. “I find it interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking. It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before.”
Branding his show the “best thing that has happened to the Menéndez brothers in 30 years”, the Emmy winner continued: “They are now being talked about by millions of people all over the world. There’s a documentary coming out into two weeks about them, also on Netflix. And I think the interesting thing about it is it’s asking people to answer the questions, ‘Should they get a new trial? Should they be let out of jail? What happens in our society? Should people be locked away for life? Is there no chance ever at rehabilitation?’.
“I’m interested in that, and a lot of people are talking about it. We’re asking really difficult questions, and it’s giving these brothers another trial in the court of public opinion.”
However, Ryan Murphy drew the line at meeting the brothers himself, which cast member Cooper Koch did around the time of Monsters’ release.
“I have no interest in talking to them,” he says. “It’s very good that Cooper has a relationship with them, and I’m very close, obviously, with Kim Kardashian, who has spoken to them.
“I love Kim, and I believe she does God’s work. I believe in prison reform. I believe in everything she believes in. I don’t know what I would say to them. What would I ask them? I know what their perspective is.”
The American Horror Story and Glee producer added: “I believe in justice, but I don’t believe in being a part of that machine,. That’s not my job. My job as an artist was to tell a perspective in a particular story. I feel I’ve done that, but I wish them well.”
After his comments were published in Variety, it’s fair to say people over on X had a fair few opinions about it all…
Ryan Murphy previously spoke out in defence of Monsters after criticism over the inclusion of scenes suggesting that Erik and Lyle Menéndez had at some point been involved in a sexual relationship.
“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,” he insisted. “Dominick Dunne [the journalist, portrayed in the show by Nathan Lane] wrote several articles talking about that theory, and how he thought that theory had validity.
“What we do in the show is, he talks about that, we are presenting his point of view just as we present [defence attorney] Leslie Abramson’s point of view. The show presents over 10 points of view of different events.
“So when people watch that and they say that, that is somebody in our show having a narrative statement about, ‘this is what I believe really happened’. And we had an obligation to show all of that, and we did.”
Monsters is now streaming on Netflix.