Current:Home > InvestHere's What Erik Menendez Really Thinks About Ryan Murphy's Menendez Brothers Series -Wealth Empowerment Academy
Here's What Erik Menendez Really Thinks About Ryan Murphy's Menendez Brothers Series
View
Date:2025-04-16 16:24:51
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! (9)
Related
- Olympic disqualification of gold medal hopeful exposes 'dark side' of women's wrestling
- Iran disqualifies former moderate president from running for reelection to influential assembly
- Water service restored to rural Tennessee town a week after winter storm, sub-freezing temperatures
- Actor Tom Hollander received 'astonishing' Marvel check meant for Tom Holland
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Peter Navarro, ex-Trump official, sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress
- Kyle Richards' Cozy Fashions Will Make You Feel Like You're in Aspen on a Real Housewives Trip
- Housing is now unaffordable for a record half of all U.S. renters, study finds
- Boy who wandered away from his 5th birthday party found dead in canal, police say
- Boeing faces quality control questions as its CEO appears on Capitol Hill
Ranking
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Archaeologists say single word inscribed on iron knife is oldest writing ever found in Denmark
- Jersey Shore town trying not to lose the man vs. nature fight on its eroded beaches
- Nepal asks Russia to send back Nepalis recruited to fight in Ukraine and the bodies of those killed
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- Bryan, Ohio pastor sues city after being charged over opening church to house the homeless
- Fendi caps couture with futurism-tinged ode to Lagerfeld at Paris Fashion Week
- Rauw Alejandro, Peso Pluma, Maluma headline Sueños 2024, Chicago's Latino music festival
Recommendation
Breaking debut in Olympics raises question: Are breakers artists or athletes?
Eva Mendes Defends Ryan Gosling From Barbie Hate After Oscar Nomination
Global warming was primary cause of unprecedented Amazon drought, study finds
Kathy Hilton breaks down in tears recalling first time she met daughter Paris' son Phoenix
Michigan lawmaker who was arrested in June loses reelection bid in Republican primary
With Vic Fangio out, who are candidates to be Dolphins' defensive coordinator for 2024?
Biden to host Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida at a state visit in April
Step Inside Pregnant Jessie James Decker’s Nature-Themed Nursery for Baby No. 4