Ryan Murphy Responds To Erik Menendez’s Criticism Of ‘Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story’

Ryan Murphy is defending his work on Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, responding to Erik Menendez’s criticism of the series, which he called a “dishonest portrayal.

“I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious,” Murphy told E! News in a red carpet interview Monday for Grotesquerie.” “I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch who plays him.”

“It’s a 35-30-year-old case, ” Ryan continues. “We show many, many, many perspectives. That’s what the show does in every episode. You are given a new theory based on people who were either involved or covered the case. Some of the controversy seems to be people thinking for example, that the brothers are having an incestuous relationship. There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it did happen.”

“We know how it ended,” Ryan pointed out. “We know two people were brutally shot. Our view and what we wanted to do was present you all the facts and have you do two things: make up your own mind about who’s innocent, who’s guilty, and who’s the monster, and also have a conversation about something that’s never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly.”

“60 to 65% [of the show] centers around Eric and Lyle Menendez talking about their abuse, talking about their victimization, talking about what it emotionally put them through, those two boys in our show get their moment in court. In fact, we have a 30-minute episode that Cooper Koch [who plays Erik] does so brilliantly. Just Erik’s words about what happened to him and why he did what he did.”

According to the show’s official Netflix logline, Monsters “dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”

Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch star as Lyle and Erik Menéndez, with Javier Bardem as José, Chloë Sevigny as Kitty, Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne and Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson.