Ryan Murphy Responds to Erik Menendez’s Criticism of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Ryan Murphy is standing by his work.

Despite the backlash his new true crime series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has received from one of the show’s subjects, Erik Menendez—who alongside his brother Lyle Menendez was convicted of murdering their parents Kitty Menendez and Jose Menendez—the American Horror Story creator believes in what his series has achieved.

“I know he hasn't watched the show, so I find that curious,” Ryan told E! News at the Sept. 23 premiere of Grotesquerie of Erik's criticism. “I know this for a fact. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it, he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch, who plays him.”

He continued, “I think the show is very interesting—what we're trying to do is show many, many, many, many perspectives. In every episode, you are given a new theory based on people who were either involved or covered the case.”

But as the 58-year-old noted, that doesn’t mean that every theory portrayed—including one that Erik and his brother Lyle were involved in an incestuous relationship—will be received favorably, especially for the subjects themselves.

“There are people who say that never happened,” Ryan admitted, before adding, “There were people who said it did happen.”

The Dahmer creator also spoke to the very nature of the series being based in true crime.

“We know how it ended,” Ryan pointed out. “We know two people were brutally shot. Our view and what we wanted to do was present you all the facts and have you do two things: make up your own mind about who's innocent, who's guilty, and who's the monster, and also have a conversation about something that's never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly.”

In fact, Lyle and Erik’s in-court defense—which claimed the two brothers had been the victims of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents for years—features predominantly in the new series.

“If you look at that show, 60 to 65% of the show centers around Erik and Lyle Menendez talking about their abuse, talking about their victimization, talking about what it emotionally put them through,” Ryan noted. “Those two boys on our show, get their moment in court, and then so then some.”

But as the longtime producer added, “I'm used to this. I write about provocative things and controversial things, and my motto is 'never complain and never explain.'”

Ryan’s comments come after Erik—who is currently serving a life sentence alongside Lyle after being convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder for the 1989 killings—slammed the new series.

"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 in a Sept. 19 statement shared to X, formerly Twitter, by his wife Tammi Menendez. "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."

He continued, "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."

-Reporting by Emily Curl

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