Erik Menendez is criticizing the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” based on the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, calling it “horrible lies” and a “horrible story,” in a statement shared by his wife, Tammi Menendez.
Tammi Menendez, who married Erik Menendez in 1999, posted the statement on September 19, X, the day “Monsters” hit the streaming platform.
“Erik’s reaction to the Netflix series,” she tweeted.
“The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is the second season of Ryan Murphy’s “Monster” anthology, which began with a series about Jeffrey Dahmer.
The nine-episode series follows the lead-up to and aftermath of the murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez on August 20, 1989.
Joseph “Lyle” Menendez, now 56, and Erik Menendez, now 53, were convicted of the murders in 1996 after two trials. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and remain in prison.
Tammi Menendez’s X account has been posting updates about Erik Menendez for years, including his reported response to “Monsters.” TODAY.com has reached out to an attorney for Lyle and Erik Menendez and provided Tammi Menendez’s numbers, but had not heard back as of publication time.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and the ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, and had created a caricature of Lyle that was rooted in the horrible and blatant lies that were rampant on the show,” Tammi Menendez’s statement began. “I can only believe they did this on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say I believe Ryan Murphy could not be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives to do this without malicious intent.”
The statement went on to call the show an “unfair portrayal” and criticized its depiction of the sexual abuse Erik and Lyle Menendez accused their father of during their first trial, which ended with a jury unable to reach a verdict.
Lyle and Erik Menendez testified that their father began abusing them when they were both 6 years old, according to journalist Robert Rand’s “The Menendez Murders.” But prosecutors at the first trial alleged that the brothers killed their parents for their estate money.
In a second trial, which began in 1995, the allegations of abuse were dismissed.
“It is sad to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crimes has set the painful truth back several steps — back in time to an era when prosecutors built a narrative on a belief system that men were not sexually assaulted and that men experienced rape trauma differently than women,” Tammi Menendez said in a statement.
“How demoralizing it is to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma,” the statement continued. “Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic. That is why I hope it will never be forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrific and silent crime scenes, darkly shadowed by the glitz and glamour and rarely revealed until the tragedy has sunk in for everyone involved.”
TODAY.com did not immediately receive comment from representatives for Netflix and Murphy.
Since its premiere on Thursday, “Monsters” has also drawn criticism from viewers for scenes that suggest the brothers had an intimate relationship. In the show’s second episode, the brothers kiss and dance seductively as if at a party. Rand’s book, “The Menendez Murders,” does not suggest the brothers had a sexual relationship.
Murphy has not yet publicly responded to the negative reactions.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
