Ryan Murphy defends ‘incestuous’ Menendez brothers series: ‘We had an obligation as storytellers’

Ryan Murphy has defended his controversial new Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, following backlash owing to its suggestions that the brothers were involved in an incestuous relationship.

The latest entry into Murphy’s Monsters true crime anthology series focuses on the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, who were killed by their two sons, Lyle and Erik. The brothers, aged 21 and 18 at the time, alleged that they had suffered years of sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of their parents. The brothers were ultimately found guilty during a highly publicised trial, with prosecutors arguing that the pair killed their parents for financial gain.

As soon as the show premiered on Netflix, it was met with a barrage of criticism for its depiction of the crimes. In particular, critics highlighted the insinuations presented on screen that the brothers were involved in a sexual relationship.

“What the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people” – Ryan Murphy

Viewers on social media also pointed out the problematic nature of show.

“Lyle admitted on the stand that he molested Erik when they were children just to show him what their own father was doing to him,” one user wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “To act as if they were in a incest relationship when they were older is revolting.”

Another added: “The Menendez brothers were victims of sexual abuse who finally retaliated against their abusers and this disgusting piece of trash has turned their story into an incestuous fanfic.”

Now, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight given at the premiere of his upcoming FX horror show Grotesquerie, Murphy has defended his decision to depict the relationship between the brothers in that way.

“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. “[Reporter] Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view just as we did [defence attorney] Leslie Abramson’s point of view. We had an obligation to show all of that. And we did.”

Following the release of Monsters, Erik Menendez, who is currently serving life in prison, released a statement via his wife criticising the show’s “dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime”.

He said that the show took things back to 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 added: “Those awful lies have been disputed 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.”

When asked about the Menendez’s statement, Murphy said he had many things to say about the backlash.

“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” he said.

He continued: “It’s really, really hard if it’s your life to see your life up on screen. The thing that I find interesting is that he doesn’t mention in his quote that if you watch the show, I would say that 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 in this age where people can talk about sexual abuse.”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Robert Rand, who wrote the 2018 book The Menendez Murders, said that there was no evidence to suggest that the brothers were involved in a sexual relationship.

“Rumours were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves. But I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified, that when Lyle was eight years old, he took Erik out in the woods and played with him with a toothbrush — which is what [their father] José had done with him,” he said. “And so I certainly wouldn’t call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It’s a response to trauma.”

Meanwhile, Erik Menendez said he hopes that the truth would stand.

“How demoralising to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma,” he added. “Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.

“As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved.”

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