Ryan Murphy has addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding his Netflix series Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
On 19 September, the second season of the true crime anthology series debuted on the popular streamer.
As the title suggests, the new batch of episodes follows the story of the titular brothers – played by Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, respectively – who were convicted for the 1989 murders of their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny) Menendez.
The synopsis adds: “The series dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”
Since its release, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has received backlash from viewers over how Erik and Lyle were portrayed in the series.
The real-life Erik Menendez also expressed his disappointment, slamming the show for its “dishonest portrayal” of their story and being filled with “blatant lies”.
On 23 September, Murphy broke his silence on the social media discourse and Erik’s aforementioned statement during an interview with E! News.
“I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious. I know this for a fact. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it, he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch, who plays him,” he said.
Murphy went on to say that the show’s creatives wanted to use a Roshomon approach and feature “many perspectives” – adding that every episode gives the viewer “a new theory based on people who were involved or covered the case.”
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“So, some of the controversy of the show seems to be people thinking, for example, that the brothers are having an incestuous relationship. There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it did happen,” he explained to the news outlet.
The American Horror Story creator gave further insight into the series’ objective, stating that they wanted to present all the facts and have viewers decide “who’s innocent, who’s guilty and who’s the monster”.
“And also have a conversation about something that’s never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly,” he continued.
“If you look at that show, 60 to 65% of the show centres around Eric and Lyle Menendez talking about their abuse, talking about their victimization, talking about what it emotionally put them through.”
While it has received its fair share of backlash, Murphy revealed to the news outlet that he’s used to that type of response.
“I write about provocative things and controversial things, and my motto is ‘never complain and never explain,'” he said.
Despite the online controversy, the second season of Murphy’s Monster series has become a hit for Netflix, securing the number one spot on the streamer’s Top 10 list in the US.
A third season is also set to make its way to the platform, with the American Crime Story creator recently announcing that Charlie Hunnam will be playing serial killer and bodysnatcher Ed Gein in the forthcoming entry.
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