Monsters star Cooper Koch has spoken out after Erik Menéndez’s disparaging comments about the show.
Cooper plays the convicted murderer in Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix drama, while Nicholas Chavez portrays his on-screen brother, Lyle Menéndez.
Since the latest season of Monsters debuted last week, it’s been met with a wave of controversy, with Erik Menéndez himself claiming it perpetuates “horrible and damaging lies” about him and his brother.
Asked what he thought about Erik Menéndez’s comments, Cooper – who recently visited the Menéndez brothers in prison – admitted to Sky News: “I understand where he’s coming from.”
“It’s very difficult to have your life dramatised and retold in a Hollywood retelling of the biggest trauma of your life,” the Swallowed star said. “One that has, in a sense, defined you.
“I can only sympathise and empathise with him and stand with him. You know, I get it.”
Acknowledging there’s “an ethical thing there for sure” when it comes to the line between fact and fiction, Cooper added that this not something he “battled with” personally.
Instead, he said: “I just made it my priority every day to make sure that I was being authentic to him and the story and to just work with integrity and make sure that I was always studying and watching testimony and just digging deeper and deeper into, him and his story.”
As depicted in the show, the Menéndez brothers claimed that they murdered their parents in self-defence, after enduring years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
However, the prosecution instead argued that the siblings’ motivation was financial.
Cooper insisted that he supports the Menéndez brothers in their calls for a retrial, claiming: “I totally stand with them, and I support them, and I can only hope that the justice system makes the right decision.”
Ryan Murphy recently defended his show after Erik Menéndez’s criticism, claiming: “I think it’s interesting that [Erik Menéndez] issued a statement without having seen the show. I know he hasn’t seen the show in prison, [but] I hope he does see the show.”
He added: “The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote – and that nobody from that side of the aisle is talking about – is that if you watch the show, I would say 60-65% of our show, in the scripts and in the film form, centre around the abuse and what they claim happened to them.
“And we do it very carefully, and we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it.”
Meanwhile, more than 40 members of Erik Menéndez’s extended family joined him in condemning the show, which they branded “repulsive” in a joint statement.