Erik Menendez , the man who was convicted of first-degree murder with his brother Lyle for killing their parents in 1996, is now speaking out against the new Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story , which depicts himself and his sibling. In a statement he posted through his wife’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account, Erik bashed director Ryan Murphy and said the series perpetrates “ruinous character portrayals” of the two brothers.
Here’s what Erik Menendez thinks of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
“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,” Menendez wrote in his statement.
According to Rolling Stone , the two brothers have argued from the beginning that their motives were fueled by their parents subjecting them to physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Erik continued to speak out on abuse in his latest statement, saying the Netflix series is misrepresenting male trauma and sexual abuse.
Calls it a “dishonest portrayal”
“Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through 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,” Erik wrote. “Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades.”
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story features Javier Bardem as the father, Jose Menendez, and Chloë Sevigny as their mother, Kitty Menendez. Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch play as the brothers.
Erik and Lyle are serving a life sentence at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, Calif.
View Erik Menendez’s full statement below:
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. 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.
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 – back through 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. 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.
Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. 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 glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The post What Do The Menendez Brothers Think Of Netflix’s ‘Monsters’? Erik Released A Statement appeared first on Blavity .
Local News
