Ryan Murphy has no regrets about his latest Netflix series.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has been criticized for suggesting an incestuous relationship between the notorious brothers, who were imprisoned in 1989 for the murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Erik, 53, issued a statement saying the “dishonest” show was full of “horrific and blatant lies” about him and his brother Lyle, 56.
Murphy, 58, responded to Erik’s criticism on Monday at the premiere of his new FX series “Grotesquerie.”
“I find it interesting that he made a statement without having seen the show,” Murphy said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“It’s really, really hard – when it’s your life – to see your life on the screen,” he added.
The famous television producer continued: “I find it interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote that 60 to 65 percent of our shows in the scripts and in the film form are about the abuse and what they say happened to them. And we are very careful about that, giving them the opportunity to appear in court and they talk openly about it.”
Murphy explained that addressing sexual abuse on television “can be controversial,” adding, “It’s kind of a ‘Rashomon’ approach where there were four people involved in it. Two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try to bring in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
When asked about the “romantic relationship” between the brothers portrayed in the series, Murphy said he simply wanted the story to be told from all perspectives.
“When you watch the show, you see that it presents the viewpoints and theories of so many people who were involved in the case,” he said.
“Dominick Dunne (Vanity Fair journalist) has written several articles on this theory,” Murphy noted. “We are presenting his point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that, and that’s what we did.”
“Monsters” takes viewers through the events leading up to the sensational murder of the Menendez parents by their two sons, who insisted that their father had sexually abused them – and the aftermath of that brutal crime.
There are several examples of incest between the brothers in the series, a theory allegedly put forward by Dunne at the time.
Erik, who is serving a life sentence along with his brother, posted a statement about “monsters” on Lyle’s Facebook page on September 20.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must say that I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives that he can do this without malicious intent,” he wrote.
Erik lashed out at Murphy, saying he “shapes his horrific story through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slanders.”
“Is the truth not enough? Then let the truth be truth,” Erik added. “How demoralizing it is to know that one man with power can undo decades of progress in solving childhood trauma.”
The first trial against Erik and Lyle ended in 1994 with a failed jury agreement. In the second trial, the admission of evidence relating to the alleged sexual abuse of the siblings was declared inadmissible.
In the second trial, the brothers were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in 1996.
Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez play Erik and Lyle in the series. Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny also play the Menendez parents.
