Monsters Season 2 Slammed by Erik Menendez for ‘Naive and Inaccurate’ Portrayal of Him and His Brother

As audiences already divided on the new season, Erik Menendez has some sharp critics for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The show marks Ryan Murphy’s second season Monster Anthology on Netflix, chronicles the infamous story of the titular brothers when they killed their parents in 1989 and eventually went on trial in 1996, where they received life sentences without the possibility of parole. Led by Nicolas Alexander Chavez, Cooper Koch, Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, Monsters Season 2 proved just as controversial as its predecessor, namely for its depiction of the brothers.

On the heels of its premiere, Erik Menendez (via Term) wrote on his Facebook page a long post criticizing Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Menendez began his post expressing disappointment with how the show portrayed him and his brother, feeling it was “Dishonest“And this The media hasMoved beyond the lies and destructive character portrayals of Lyle“. He also goes on to express disbelief that Murphy is “This is naive and inaccurate“About the facts of his story:

I believed that we had moved beyond the lies and destructive character portraits of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes that are rampant in the show. I can only believe that they are done that way on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives to do this without bad intention. It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths several steps back – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that men are not sexually abused, And that men experience rape trauma differently than women.

Menendez goes on to criticize the way the media has portrayed both brothers over the years, particularly because it was “Countless brave victims over the past two decades who have faced their personal shame and bravely spoken out” he asks further “Is the truth not enough?“and express a”Demoralizing“Feel that with the show, murphy”can undermine decades of progress in shining light on childhood trauma“. Menendez closes his message by thanking “All those who reached out to me and supported me“:

These terrible lies have been destroyed and exposed by countless brave victims over the past two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely come out. Now Murphy shapes his horrific narrative through vile and gruesome character portrayals of Lyle and Me and heartbreaking slander. Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one person with power can undermine decades of progress in shining 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 horrors and silent crime scenes darkly hurt behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates all involved. To all those who reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Will audiences turn away from watching Murphy’s show?

Menendez’s comments about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story They will certainly be interesting to those intrigued to watch Murphy’s latest tackle of an infamous true crime. The Emmy winner initially got off to a strong start The People vs. OJ Simpson – American Crime Storywho was praised for his quick pace and general adherence to the facts of the real trial, even some of the real participants are critical of it. Then seasons in both American Crime Story And the first season of MonstersHowever, they were much more divisiveAs can be seen in the table below with their comparison on rotten tomatoes:

When you look at the audience scores for his shows, it’s clear that Murphy’s defenders have generally stuck with him even as his true-crime projects have become increasingly divisive. As such, IIt is not likely that Monsters Season 2 will see viewers turn away from watching The story of Lila and Eric MendezEven in spite of Erik’s criticism about its factual accuracy. The first season of the show, Dahmer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storyearned widespread backlash, but still became only the third Netflix show to pass 1 billion views in its first 60 days.

Our Take on Menendez’s Monsters Season 2 Critic

Regardless of how the show performs in the long run, Menendez’s criticism shows that it’s time for Murphy to rethink his approach to the true crime genre going forward. yet The story of Lila and Eric Mendez, Murphy has multiple installments in both his American Crime Story And Monster AnthologiesIncluding the JFK Jr. spinoff, American Love Storyand season 3 of the latter which will star Charlie Hunnam as infamous serial killer Ed Gein, a key inspiration in creating PsychoS. Norman Bates.

Some true-crime stories certainly lend themselves better to Murphy’s iconic flair for the extreme, but even with a show like Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez StoryWhich does not necessarily seem to glorify its titular figures, a sense of sensitivity is still appreciated not only by me, but also by the figures who are involved on both sides of something like a murder trial. with Monsters Season 3 still in the pre-production stage, I hope that Murphy listens not only to Menendez’s criticisms, but those of his previous shows, to correct for a more meaningful depiction of the other stories he has in the works.

Source: Erik Menendez/ Facebook (by deadline)