Erik Menendez responds to Monsters series – says Ryan Murphy had "bad intent"

Now, the real-life Erik Menendez, who is currently serving a life sentence alongside his brother, has responded to the series, saying he believes Murphy went into the project with "bad intent" regarding the brothers' portrayals.

However, Murphy has defended the drama, stating that "60 to 65 per cent" of the show centres around the brothers' claims and that the programme-makers had an "obligation as storytellers" to put in the perspective of the parents – adding "it's interesting that [Erik] issued a statement without having seen the show".

Lyle Menendez posted a statement from Erik on his Facebook page following the show's release, saying: "I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. 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."

The statement continued: "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.

"Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have been 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.

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"Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralising is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.

"As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

When asked about Erik's comments by Entertainment Tonight, Murphy said: "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.

"The thing that I find interesting that he doesn't mention in his quote is if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 per cent of our show in the scripts and in the film form centre 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 in this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse. Talking about it and writing about it, and writing about all points of view, can be controversial.

"It's a Rashomon kind of approach where there were four people involved in that – 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."

RadioTimes.com has approached Murphy and Netflix for any further comment.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle and Cooper Koch as Erik, while José is played by Javier Bardem and Kitty is played by Chloë Sevigny.

The next season in the Monsters anthology is set to focus on serial killer Ed Gein, and it will star Sons of Anarchy actor Charlie Hunnam.

Netflix has announced that a new documentary, The Menendez Brothers, will release in October, featuring a series of interviews including with the brothers, who spoke with the production from behind bars.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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