Convicted Murders Lyle & Erik Menendez Call New Netflix Series ‘Monsters’ About Their Case A ‘Blatant Lie’

Lyle and Erik Menendez, whose controversial criminal case served as the inspiration for the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, claim that the limited series does not portray the full extent of the circumstances that led to the murder of their parents in 1989.

The two brothers, aged 21 and 18 respectively at the time, murdered their parents, mother Kitty and father Jose Menendez, on August 20, 1989. The brothers claimed that they killed their parents due to alleged sexual abuse both brothers received at the hands of their parents. They were first tried separately in 1993 and then again jointly in 1995, culminating in both of them being convicted in 1996, where they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of their parents.

Their story has been reintroduced to the public once more following the release of the second season of Monsters, a true-crime anthology series created for Netflix. After the second season of Monsters was released on Netflix on September 19, creator Ryan Murphy faced criticism for various scenes depicting an implied incestuous relationship between the two brothers, something that they both denied during their trials. Fans and critics alike felt that this depiction did not accurately portray the alleged abuse and trauma that the brothers endured.

The second episode, “Spree,” shows the two brothers kissing, while the sixth episode, “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” depicts their mother, Kitty, catching the two sharing a shower. One fan wrote on X, “Taking a story about two brothers who suffered from sexual abuse from their dad and turning it into an incestuous fantasy is horrid.” Another wrote: “creating incest fanfiction of real-life brothers is INSANE.”

Murphy has come to the defense of his show. “Our view and what we wanted to do was to present you [the audience] all the facts and have you do two things: make up your mind about who’s innocent, who’s guilty, and who’s the monster, and also have a conversation that’s never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly,” Murphy said in response to the criticism.

While Lyle has yet to disclose his opinions about the series, his brother Erik has shared a statement through his wife’s X account, calling the show “blatant lies.” 

“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths several steps backward 一 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,” he said.

Despite the criticism, Murphy has received acclaim for his Monsters series. Evan Peters, who starred in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, won a Golden Globe in January 2023 for his portrayal of the titular serial killer.