Erik Menendez Speaks Out Amid Viewer Backlash Over Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters’ Series

Erik Menendez is not a fan of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — and he’s not the only one.

The 53-year-old convicted murderer released a statement on Thursday, September 19 via his wife Tammi Menendez on X (formerly known as Twitter). Erik began by defending his brother — and fellow convicted murderer — Lyle, 56, condemning the “lies and ruinous portrayals of Lyle.”

“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 also slammed the TV series, which suggests there was an incestuous relationship between the brothers, for taking everyone back to a time “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 credited “countless brave victims” over the years who have come forward and challenged that narrative regarding men and sexual abuse, before asking, “Is the truth not enough?”

He called Murphy’s narrative “vile” and “appalling,” slamming “one man with power” for undermining “decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”

Seemingly acknowledging his part in the crime, Erik noted that “violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.” He went on to thank everyone who has shared support following the release of the show, while also highlighting the damage that a violent upbringing can cause to not only the child, but also those around them.

Erik’s statement comes amid fan backlash to the series, with some calling for “empathy, not sexualisation.” Many took to X to call Murphy “a sick man,” and one post sharing a salacious clip of the show with the caption, “of course, it’s a ryan murphy production #monstersnetflix” was flooded with outraged comments.

“Makes me sick thinking of how they became a joke in the nineties when new evidence has shown it is very likely they were sexually abused by their father,” one person wrote, while another posted, “the mendes brothers deserved a proper amplification of the story of how they got abused by their father and not whatever this is.”

Other commenters called back to the backlash surrounding the last season of the Netflix series — Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — which focused on infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Evan Peters). “first dahmer THEN THIS? DOES HE WANT THE VICTIMS TO EXPERIENCE IT AGAIN????,” one person wrote.

Another called for Murphy’s arrest, posting, “I hated Dahmer so badly. Thinking about how it exploited the victims’ families’ trauma pisses me off so badly. Ryan Murphy needs to be in jail i swear to god.”

As of yet, Murphy has not responded to criticism about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. However, when asked about criticism of the Dahmer season, Murphy said he had a team of researchers who worked for three years, and that he did reach out to victims’ families, though none of them responded.

“I was never interested in Jeffrey Dahmer, the monster,” he added. “I was interested in what made him. I think that the fact that all of the characters in this are seen as true humans makes some people uncomfortable.”