The backlash against Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters just keeps coming — and now the cast has spoken out in defense of their scripted show about Lyle and Erik Menéndez‘s infamous murder case.
Season 2 of the hit Netflix series debuted in September and chronicled Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik’s (Cooper Koch) 1989 arrest for the murder of their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). Taking inspiration from footage of the trial and subsequent interviews, Monsters mirrored key moments from Lyle and Erik’s lives before and after they were sentenced to life without parole for shooting their mother and father.
Episodes 4 and 5 received critical and fan praise for introducing Erik and Lyle’s claims that they killed their parents in self-defense following years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Similar to season 1 of Monster — which was centered around Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer — the show came under fire for several inaccuracies about the Menéndez brothers, including the insinuation that they were in a sexual relationship.
Erik released a statement slamming Murphy’s production one day after it was released.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant in the show,” read a statement from Erik that was shared via Lyle’s Facebook page. “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.”
Erik expressed frustration with how his and Lyle’s perspectives were portrayed, adding, “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.”
He continued: “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. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander. Is the truth not enough?”
Murphy and several cast members acknowledged Erik’s displeasure with their interpretation of the high-profile case. The creator, however, has stood by the vision that came together on screen after plenty of research.
“There were four people involved [in the case],” he told Entertainment Tonight. “Two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
Keep scrolling for everything the cast said about the backlash against the show — including those incest insinuations:
Ryan Murphy
Murphy has defended how Monsters tried not to pick a side.
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen,” he shared with ET in September. “If you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent [of the content centers] around the abuse and what they claim happened to them. And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it.”
Murphy also pushed back about those incest insinuations, telling Variety, “If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case. [Vanity Fair journalist] Dominick Dunne [Nathan Lane] wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view. And we had an obligation to show all of that and we did.”
Nicholas Chavez
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Chavez reflected on his experience playing Lyle. “[Playing] Lyle Menéndez [on Monsters] necessitated more thoughtful preparation because you want to be careful and diligent with a character like that,” he shared. “This is someone who is a real person and who is still alive today.”
Chavez was subsequently asked about the incest drama, telling Variety, “It’s a really interesting question, and it was something that we discussed quite a bit as part of this project, but ultimately this is a question that’s honestly best reserved for Ryan and the creators of the show.”
Nathan Lane
Monsters featured a sequence where Dunne, who wrote about the trial for Vanity Fair, mentioned the siblings’ motives. After he suggested that the brothers were hiding a secret before the murders, the episode cut to a scene of Kitty opening the bathroom door to discover her sons taking a shower together.
“There’s a dinner party scene at Chateau Marmont, and Dominick’s discussing various theories of what he thinks happened with the brothers. At one point, that scene was originally 20 pages, and I talked about it a lot more. At one point, he says, ‘Perhaps this is what happened’ and suggests that there was an incestuous relationship between the two brothers, but that it had nothing to do with [their father] José, and that’s what [their mother] Kitty knew about,” Lane explained to Variety. “But it’s just him theorizing. He’s not saying that’s what happened. He says this is another reason why they might have killed them. But he’s just posing another theory.”
Lane urged viewers to remember they are watching “a dramatization and not a documentary” of a situation.
“As Ryan has said, they’ve shown all different points of view about this case, and certainly they cover Eric and Lyle discussing their sexual abuse at the hands of their father. So I think you get many, many different opinions and points of view about what happened,” he continued. “Ultimately they’re the only ones who know for sure exactly what happened. But I just think the show is extremely well written and beautifully acted by everybody.”
In response to a question about Erik’s reaction to the series, Lane encouraged him to watch the show for himself.
“He hasn’t seen the show. He’s Just criticizing it and condemning it without ever having seen it, so one has to take that with a grain of salt,” he added. “Obviously, to have your life portrayed this way in a Netflix miniseries — he wasn’t one of the producers, so not everything might be flattering or make you happy. But I would say you should probably see it before you speak out again.”
Cooper Koch
Cooper’s brother, Payton Koch, reassured fans that the actor sympathizes with Erik.
“He cares immensely for the boys and stands with them and all victims of abuse. He did everything he could to ensure their stories of abuse were seen on screen and I think in episode 5, it is abundantly clear where he stands. Actors are only vessels for the writers/producers of the show,” Payton shared via Instagram comments in September. “Any true story portrayal is going to be tough, but please trust me when I say he does care about them and their story. ❤️🩹.”
Payton continued. “I totally understand and hear you. I’m glad you were able to see Erik in episode 5 and I can only hope that people’s perspectives are shifted to sympathize with the boys, even though the last few episodes do not portray them in the best light. Thank you for sharing and know you are not alone in the way you feel 🫶🏼.”
Cooper released his own statement about the incest speculation.
“I knew that this was a very controversial story, and that people were going to be upset and affected by what they were seeing. I think though you do have to put it into context of the situation, and that we’re sort of painting a picture based on what somebody else’s perspective was,” he told Variety. “It’s not necessarily the truth of what happened. That’s just what Dominick Dunne thinks and there I think are other places in the story where it’s sort of planted to give people all of these different perspectives and you know.”
Cooper clarified that he “absolutely does not” believe the brothers had an incestuous relationship.
“I think the goal of the show is to put all those perspectives together and let the audience be the jury. And at the end of the show, you just make your decision on what you believe. And I think it’s a really interesting way of telling the story and just storytelling in general,” Cooper continued. “I do not think that’s true. And I don’t think it was intended by the show to make or break that truth. I think that was just a theory that one person had and that got put into the show because that person was a character in the show. … I stand with Eric and everything that he says in his testimony I believe to be his truth, and I believe him.”
At the time, Cooper admitted Erik’s response “definitely affected” him.
“It made me feel things. I sympathize with him, I empathize with him. I get it. I understand how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised for millions of people to see. It’s so exposing,” the actor concluded. “I understand how he feels and I stand by him. In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him.”
Chloe Sevigny
“I think all of the creators and showrunners wanted, first and foremost, for Nicholas and Cooper to feel comfortable and to not do anything that they didn’t want to do. There were people there to protect them at all times on the sets. And I said, ‘So do you want me to do off-camera? Do you not want me to? Is it better for you if I’m there or not there?’ Everything was done to ensure that they felt safe and protected, with intimacy coaches and so on,” Sevigny shared in a statement to Variety. “They were allowed to cut and walk away if they ever wanted to, and those boys were so committed to the roles and the way that Ian and Ryan wanted to tell the story that they were willing themselves to do almost anything. It was really amazing to watch them and how invested they were in the characters and the story. I just felt like I was there to support them.”
Javier Bardem
Despite not reading Erik’s criticism of the show, Bardem wasn’t surprised by the response.
“I know he has spoken, but I haven’t read it,” he noted to Variety. “But of course it’s absolutely normal, logical and legitimate to say what you think about your own life being on a show. I support that. Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give different perspectives, different views of the same issue because nothing is set in stone. That also includes the way to perform the character. We have to be open as actors to play and shift from one perspective to the other, depending on who is telling the story.”
