The Menéndez household is talking out in opposition to Ryan Murphy and Netflix.
Tammi Menendez, spouse of Erik Menéndez, has shared a statement on social media attributed to “virtually the entire extended family” of Erik and Lyle Menéndez slamming Murphy's Netflix sequence “Monsters.”
The group of members of the family, which the assertion mentioned consists of 24 folks, criticized the show as a “phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Netflix and Murphy for remark.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story” facilities across the Menéndez brothers, who have been convicted of killing their mother and father in 1996. The brothers argued they acted in self-defense following years of abuse by their father, José Menéndez.
In a earlier assertion, Erik Menéndez blasted the Netflix show for its “caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies” and its “dishonest portrayal” of their story.
The prolonged household mentioned in their very own assertion that they've been “victimized” by the “grotesque shockadrama” and that Murphy “never spoke to us” earlier than making the show.
Erik Menendez slams Ryan Murphy, Netflix for ‘dishonest portrayal' of his guardian's murders
“The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a ‘story telling narrative' is repulsive,” they mentioned.
“We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys. We love them and to this very day we are close to them. We also know what went on in their home and the unimaginably turbulent lives they have endured. Several of us were eyewitnesses to many atrocities one should never have to bear witness to.
“It is unhappy that Ryan Murphy, Netflix, and all others concerned on this sequence, should not have an understanding of the influence of years of bodily, emotional, and sexual abuse. Perhaps, in spite of everything, ‘Monsters' is all about Ryan Murphy.”
One of the series' most controversial elements is its suggestion that Erik and Lyle Menéndez may have been in an incestuous relationship. They kiss on the lips in one episode, while in another, their mom walks in on them showering together. The latter scene is presented as a theory of journalist Dominick Dunne, played by Nathan Lane, who hypothesizes the brothers might have killed their parents to cover up their relationship.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Murphy defended the show by saying his intent was to include multiple perspectives on what happened.
“What the show is doing is presenting the factors of view and theories from so many individuals who have been concerned within the case,” Murphy said. “Dominick Dunne wrote a number of articles speaking about that principle. We are presenting his level of view, simply as we current (Menéndez lawyer) Leslie Abramson's level of view. We had an obligation to show all of that, and we did.”
In their assertion, the household described Dunne, who died in 2009, as a “pro-prosecution hack.”
Murphy additionally instructed ET it is “attention-grabbing” that Erik Menéndez issued a statement “with out having seen the show,” adding, “I'd say 60-65% of our show, within the scripts and within the movie kind, middle across the abuse and what they declare occurred to them, and we do it very fastidiously and we give them their day in courtroom.”
Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who played Lyle Menéndez, also responded to Erik Menéndez's previous statement by telling USA TODAY he has “sympathy and empathy” for him “in that I can solely think about how tough it's to have probably the most traumatic second of your life put up there on the display for everybody to see.”