Erik Menendez has called out Netflix and Ryan Murphy over their "dishonest portrayal" of his and brother Lyle's story in new series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Last week (19th September) Netflix released the latest series of Monsters, a true-crime drama series, this time looking at the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of the murders of their parents José and Kitty Menendez.
The brothers, who are still in jail, have long maintained they were abused by their parents and cited this as the reason for killing them, while the prosecution argued the pair were after the family fortune.
And now Erik Menendez has slammed the series and Netflix, in particular the portrayal of his older brother Lyle.
In a statement shared by his wife Tammi Menendez on her X account, Erik said the following: "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. 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.
"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.
"Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out."
Erik then called out Ryan Murphy, the creator of the series, saying, "So now Murphy shapes this horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.
"Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralising is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding 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 horrendous and silent crimes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved."
Erik concluded his statement by thanking his supporters, saying: "To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you for the bottom of my heart.”
The brothers killed their parents in 1989, and were originally tried separately, which resulted in two hung juries. They were then tried again in 1995 as a pair and were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. They were both given life sentences, without the possibility of parole.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available on Netflix now
