After 35 years, the Erik and Lyle Menendez case is back in mainstream media after the release of Netflix’s latest true crime show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. While the show has maintained popularity over the past few weeks since its release, it has also retained a serious amount of backlash and controversy, and not just because of the original controversy of the case.
Released on September 19, Monsters proved to be quite the success for Director Ryan Murphy, who previously worked on the true crime series about Jeffery Dahmer, which also harbored its own controversies. Since the initial release date, Monsters has stayed consistent in Netflix’s Top 10 Most Watched list. However, despite the high levels of viewership, critics and audiences have begun to voice their opinions and concerns regarding the portrayals of the brothers and their situation overall. Unfortunately, not many of these comments included praises.
Before addressing the issues with the show, it’s important to highlight the good parts since there are few. To kick off the season, Murphy shows the audience Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik’s (Cooper Koch) preparation for the murder, as well as the aftermath that led to the arrest. The perspectives switched throughout the episodes, giving the audience an idea as to what took place before and prior to the murder without showing the blood and gore just yet. However, when the crime itself is shown, it is done in typical Murphy fashion, with plenty of gore and horrific detail.
However one episode stands out above the rest due to its change in tone from the rest of the story. The fifth episode, “Hurt Man,” showcases Erik and his lawyer, Leslie Abramson, while he gives a detailed look at his own life prior to the murders. Throughout the episode, Erik reveals the sexual trauma he endured at the hands of his father, Jose. Koch, who portrayed Erik, was applauded for his compelling performance within the episode. However, despite how well this episode was received, it does little to redeem the show’s amount of controversy.
The most notable and controversial aspect of Murphy’s adaptation of the case would be the insinuation that the brothers were engaged in their own intimate relationship, which both Erik and Lyle have denied since the show’s release. In multiple instances, Murphy pushes the narrative that the two were engaged in some form of intimacy by having Lyle and Erik kiss and having their mother imagining that the two were intimate while showering.
Both brothers have stated that neither of them are gay, nor have they had an intimate relationship with each other beyond the abuse they endured. The theories regarding their intimacy came from Vanity Fair reporter Dominick Dunne who followed their cases closely. Dunne also believed that Lyle used cocaine, and Murphy opted to include that within the character’s portrayal despite it just being a rumor. Along with making implications about their own intimacy, Murphy also makes claims that are more specific to Erik. While displaying Erik’s own struggles in prison, it is implied that he took up another one of the male inmates as a lover. As previously stated, Erik has debunked the claims regarding his sexuality.
Audiences and critics have expressed their distaste in these plot-points, with one of the most notable critics being Erik Menendez himself, “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,” Menendez said in a statement posted to X by his wife, Tammi Menendez. “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 said. “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.”
Since Menendez’s comments, Koch has met with Menendez alongside Kim Kardashian, a media influencer and advocate for criminal justice reform. Not much has been revealed about what they had discussed, however Koch sympathizes with Erik. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the worst part of your life, such a traumatic and tragic thing, be televised for millions of people to see in a dramatized Hollywood TV way,” Koch said in an interview with Variety. “I just said, ‘I understand, I get it, and I stand with you,’” Koch said.
In response to the criticism made by Menendez himself, Murphy stated in an interview with the L.A. Times that this series was “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years because it’s getting people to talk about it, and it’s getting people to ask the questions that are important.” Although Murphy’s response may seem harsh, his point about people talking about the case today is a relevant concern. Before Monsters was even released, Roy Rosello, a former member of the boy band Menudo, claimed that he was also sexually abused by Jose Menendez in their New Jersey home when Menendez was serving as an executive for RCA Records.
Since Rosello’s claim, the brothers have submitted a petition for a new hearing based on the new evidence and allegations released in the 2023 docuseries, Menudo + Menendez: Boys Betrayed. New evidence had also resurfaced around the same time as the petition, mainly a letter written by Erik eight months before the crime that discussed the sexual abuse from his father.
With those revelations in mind, Murphy said that giving the brothers a chance at a retrial was another goal of the series. “I know that they want new evidence to be allowed in. And I think that should probably happen,” Murphy said.
Despite Rosello’s claim having come a year prior to Murphy’s project, the Menendez brothers plan to release their own documentary, The Menendez Brothers, on October 7, which is set to be streamed on Netflix. In this documentary, the brothers are showcasing interviews with them and their cousin Diane Vander Molen who knew that Lyle was being abused as a child.
Although the reception of Monsters varies from positive to negative, the impact Murphy’s project has left on society has given the chance for new ideas about the case to be introduced, and also raises the possibility of giving the brothers a proper trial. However, until then, the nation is watching with bated breath as the Menendez case once again takes center stage.