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Ryan Murphy has defended his latest Netflix true crime drama ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez story.’ Here’s a timeline of the controversy.

September 24, 20240
Erik Menendez’s wife, Tammi Menendez, in 1999.

Chris Morton / Online USA, Inc.

A week before “Monsters” arrived on Netflix, Erik Menendez’s wife, Tammi Menendez, wrote on X that the series had “missed the mark.” It was unclear if she had seen the show before its release or was responding to the trailer.

She described it as a “train wreck” and “exaggerated and untrue.”

September 19, 2024: Viewers complain that the show suggests Menendez brothers had an incestuous relationship.
Lyle Menendez in court.

Kim Kulish/Sygma/Getty Images

On the day of release, a Facebook account that appeared to be run by Lyle Menendez’s family also criticized the incest scenes.

The person running the account wrote: “They had a plethora of material to draw from, and this is what they chose to do????? It’s laughable. It’s pathetic. And it is re-victimizing. It is imaginary. It is fiction. And to put out into the world the absurd notion that the brothers were lovers is the height of pure evil.”

In another post later that day, the account claimed Lyle Menendez had not seen the series.

“Just so everyone is clear, like the pinned post says, this is not Lyle posting. THANKFULLY, Lyle does not have Netflix in prison and cannot watch this abject trash,” they said.

Business Insider contacted the account to verify if it is run by a relative of Lyle Menendez.

September 20, 2024: Erik Menendez calls the portrayal of him and his brother “vile and appalling.”
Ryan Murphy at the “Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story” premiere.

Steve Granitz/Film Magic/Getty Images

Commenting on Erik Menendez’s statement, Murphy told Entertainment Tonight on September 23: “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen.

He added: “If you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent of the scripts, and the film form, center around the abuse and what they claim happened to them. And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it.

Referring to a 1950s Japanese crime thriller that tells the story of a murder from different perspectives, Murphy added: “It’s a ‘Rashomon’ kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that. Two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”

Asked about the romantic relationship between the brothers in the show, Murphy said: “If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case.”