Ryan Murphy has no regrets about his latest Netflix series.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has faced criticism for suggesting an incestuous relationship between the infamous brothers who went to jail for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Erik, 53, spoke out in a statement and said the “dishonest” show is filled with “horrible and blatant lies” about himself and his brother Lyle, 56.
Murphy, 58, responded to Erik’s criticism on Monday at the premiere of his new FX series, “Grotesquerie.”
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” Murphy said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen,” he added.
The famous TV producer went on, “The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote, is if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent of our show in the scripts and in the film form center 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.”
Murphy explained that exploring sexual abuse on television “can be controversial,” adding, “It’s a ‘Rashomon’ kind of approach, where there were 4 people involved in that. Two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
When asked about the “romantic relationship” between the brothers that’s portrayed on the show, Murphy said he merely wanted the story to be told from all perspectives.
“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 said.
“Dominick Dunne [Vanity Fair journalist] wrote several articles talking about that theory,” Murphy noted. “We are presenting his point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that and we did.”
“Monsters” takes viewers through the events leading up to the sensational slaying of the Menendez parents at the hands of their two sons, who insisted their father sexually abused them — along with the aftermath of the brutal crime.
There are several examples of incest innuendos between the brothers in the show, a theory allegedly floated at the time by Dunne.
Erik, who is serving life in prison alongside his brother, released a statement about “Monsters” on Lyle’s Facebook page on Sept. 20.
“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,” he wrote.
Erik blasted Murphy and said he “shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slander.”
“Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth,” Erik added. “How demoralizing is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”
Erik and Lyle’s first trial ended in two hung juries in 1994. The admission of evidence regarding the siblings’ alleged sexual abuse was ruled as inadmissible during their second trial.
The brothers were convicted of murder in their second trial and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996.
Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez play Erik and Lyle, respectively, in the show. Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny also star as the Menendez parents.
Credit: Source link
