Writer Ryan Murphy sparked controversy and has been the center of receiving backlash since Netflix released his re-telling of one of the most talked about cases in the media involving Lyle and Erik, the Menendez brothers played by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez. This time, viewers were not so thrilled, to say the least, in comparison to the feedback on his adaptation of Jeffrey Dahmer’s case. Neither was Erik Menendez, as he openly shared his distaste for Murphy’s screen choices himself.
For those who don’t know, Erik and Lyle Menendez suffered from years of horrendous physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents Kitty and, primarily, father Jose Menendez, starting at the ages of just six and eight years old. The abuse got worse as the two grew older, in fact lasted up until a few days before Erik and Lyle would end the abuse by killing their parents in 1989. Not long after, they would get sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
We have seen countless of documentaries, movies, and TV show adaptations of many cases, high profile and not. These writers, producers, directors, etc. always take a cautious approach when telling these stories due to the severity of the matter. Yet Murphy did not, and took the most sensitive and traumatic points of the Menendez brothers’ lives, to his advantage making a profit with little to no caution through lies and insensitive Hollywood storytelling.
It is public belief that Jose was sexually abusing Lyle at only six years old and this led to Lyle repeating an act with a toothbrush on Erik in the woods. Taking this trauma response, and spinning it to not only make a fantasy segment portraying the brothers in an incestuous relationship but to say Kitty and Jose found out about this “relationship” and that is why they were killed, was an absolutely vile choice.
Not to mention, the show predominantly showed the abuse from Jose, barely shining any light on the abuse endured from Kitty as well. If you are going to mention his actions, also talk about how Lyle testified that Kitty asked him to touch her everywhere, kicked, pushed, and dragged him, and threw his stuffed animals out the window as a punishment. Leaving out aspects of Kitty’s actions towards them and the enabling of Jose, is another form of serving the brothers’ injustice, as if they needed any more.
If you watch or have already watched the trial, it is clear that Lyle in real life, is nothing compared to Lyle in the show. Yes, he obviously had anger, frustration, anyone would in his situation. But he was not this egotistical, spoiled kid who was lashing out on everybody around him. If anything, he showed nothing but love and protection towards his brother, and even to his parents and those who didn’t deserve it at all.
I could go on about the show, but the biggest problem I and others have with Ryan Murphy was his response to the backlash from viewers, critics, and Erik himself.
“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.. 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 stated.
Family members have come out in support of them feeling victimized by the show’s repulsive narrative.
“We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys…We are 24 strong and today we want the world to know we support Erik and Lyle. We individually and collectively pray for their release after being imprisoned for 35 years.” their Aunt Joan VanderMolen came out.
The brothers also received words of support from Koch when he visited them in prison.
“I really do hope that they are able to get paroled and have an amazing rest of their lives…I always knew I wanted to tell them that I believe them and that I want to be an advocate for them.” Koch mentioned after meeting the two.
After all this, and way more, Ryan Murphy responded that he finds it interesting that Erik hasn’t seen the show in prison, but still issued a statement.
But what really threw things off was when he said “sixty-five percent of the show is dedicated to (Erik and Lyle’s) point of view…we give those boys so much airtime to talk about what they claim as their physical abuse.”
This was not a claim, this was real-life horror this family lived. If you are going to do a re-telling of someone’s trauma, make it one hundred percent real, because there is surely enough evidence to do so.
