Current:Home > MyHere's What Erik Menendez Really Thinks About Ryan Murphy's Menendez Brothers Series -Wealth Empowerment Zone
Here's What Erik Menendez Really Thinks About Ryan Murphy's Menendez Brothers Series
View
Date:2025-04-18 19:00:12
Erik Menendez is speaking out against Ryan Murphy's series about him and his brother Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences for murdering their parents in 1989.
Erik's shared his thoughts about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in a message his wife Tammi Menendez shared on X, formerly Twitter, Sept. 19, the day the show premiered on Netflix.
"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."
E! News has reached out to Murphy and Netflix for comment on the 53-year-old's remarks and has not heard back.
In Monsters, the second season of an crime drama anthology series that Murphy co-created with Ian Brennan, Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch play Lyle and Erik, respectively, while Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny portray the brothers' parents, José Menendez and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez.
In 1996, following two trials, Erik and Lyle, 56, were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder for the 1989 shotgun killings of their father and mother in their Beverly Hills home. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors had said Erik and Lyle's motivation for the murders stemmed from their desire to inherit the family fortune. The siblings had alleged their parents had physically, emotionally and sexually abused them for years and their legal team argued they killed their mother and father in self-defense.
"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," Erik said in his statement, "back though 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."
He continued, "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. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander."
Erik added that "violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic."
"As such," he continued, "I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (5124)
Related
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- 'Boy Meets World' cast reunites: William Daniels poses in photos with Danielle Fishel, other stars
- Man hospitalized after shark attack off Southern California coast
- Boeing Starliner's first astronaut flight halted at the last minute
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- 'Pluie, rain': Taylor Swift sings in a downpour on Eras Tour's first night in Lyon, France
- USWNT officially kicks off the Emma Hayes Era. Why the early returns are promising.
- Ava Phillippe Revisits Past Remarks About Sexuality and Gender to Kick Off Pride Month
- New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
- Unprecedented ocean temperatures make this hurricane season especially dangerous
Ranking
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- WNBA upgrades hard hit on Caitlin Clark, fines Angel Reese for media violation
- Inter Miami vs. St. Louis City SC highlights: Messi scores again in high-octane draw
- West Virginia hotel where several people were sickened had no carbon monoxide detectors
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Firefighters make progress, but wildfire east of San Francisco grows to 14,000 acres
- Rupert Murdoch ties the knot for the 5th time in ceremony at his California vineyard
- Organizers say record-setting drag queen story time reading kicks off Philadelphia Pride Month
Recommendation
Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
Jury selection is beginning in gun case against President Joe Biden’s son
Orson Merrick: The stock market is actually very simple, but no one wants to gradually get rich!
Shocking revelations from 'Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson' Lifetime documentary
Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
'I'm prepared to (expletive) somebody up': Tommy Pham addresses dust-up with Brewers
Powerball winning numbers for June 1 drawing: Jackpot climbs to $171 million
Salt in the Womb: How Rising Seas Erode Reproductive Health