“Monsters” creator Ryan Murphy makes angry families the focus of his shows

• Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez killed their parents in 1989, but they have the support of family members.
• “Monsters” co-creator Ryan Murphy has defended his sibling show amid backlash from the Menendez family.
• The first season of “Monster” was about Jeffrey Dahmer and angered the families of his victims.

Once again, Netflix’s “Monsters” has angered the families at the center of the true-crime show, but co-creator Ryan Murphy is standing firm.

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is Netflix’s latest true-crime sensation, dramatizing the high-profile 1990s trials of two brothers who killed their parents in 1989. Next up is “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” from 2022, which told the story. of the serial killer.

Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez admitted to killing their parents during their first trial in 1993, arguing that they acted in self-defense after years of abuse. They received life sentences. Members of the extended Menendez family supported the brothers’ claims that they were abused.

“Monsters” depicts multiple insights from the brothers’ trials, such as the theory that they were secret lovers, which is not proven.

Earlier this week, Erik Menendez’s wife, Tammi Menendez, shared a statement on behalf of the family on X, which read: “Our family has been victimized by this grotesque shock drama. Murphy claims he spent years investigating the case but ultimately relied on the debunking of pro-prosecutor hack Dominick Dunne to justify his slander against us and never spoke to us.”

Dunne is a journalist who covered the trial and is featured in “Monsters”.

The family did not specify the problems they had with the show.

Murphy defended the “Monsters”.

Murphy, who created the show with writer Ian Brennan, strongly defended “Monsters.” He told Variety on Thursday that the show was “the best thing to happen to the Menendez brothers in 30 years” because it got the public talking about their case.

Murphy faced similar backlash from the families of Dahmer’s victims, who claimed they were not contacted before the September 2022 release of “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”

Criticism has raised broader questions about the ethics of true crime content and whether victims and their families should be compensated when their lives are adapted.

Still, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” was nominated for 13 Emmys, and Netflix has already renewed the anthology for a third season.

Murphy called the Menendez family’s response “predictable.”

On Thursday, Murphy said: “The family’s response is predictable at best. It’s interesting to me because I’d like the details of what they think is shocking or not. It’s not like we’re making any of this up. Everything has been presented before.”

Murphy said he believes the Menendez brothers should not spend their entire lives in prison, but said he has no plans to advocate for their release.

“I believe in justice, but I don’t believe in being part of that machine,” he said. “It’s not my job. My job as an artist was to tell a perspective in a certain story. I feel like I’ve done that, but I wish them well.”

Murphy also said he has no plans to visit them in prison, despite his co-stars Kim Kardashian and Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez on “Monsters,” having recently done so.

“I have no interest in talking to them,” he said. “I don’t know what I would say to them. What would I ask them? I know what their perspective is.”

The families of Dahmer’s victims criticized “The Monster.”

Dahmer, who killed 17 boys and men, died in 1994. Several family members of his victims claimed that Netflix and the co-creators did not contact them to warn them that the series was coming or to ask their permission to create it.

In September 2022, Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, who Dahmer killed in 1991, told Business Insider, “I feel like Netflix should have asked if it bothered us or how we felt when we did it. They didn’t ask me anything. . They just did.”

According to The Hollywood ReporterMurphy claimed in October 2022 that the team contacted 20 family members and friends of the victims during the fact-checking process, but no one responded.

Tatiana Banks, Lindsey’s daughter, told BI in October 2022 that the series opened old wounds.

“Honestly, since the show came on, I haven’t been able to sleep. I see Jeffrey Dahmer in my sleep,” she said.

Thomas M. Jacobson, who represented 11 of the victims’ families, told The Wrap in October 2022 that Murphy and Netflix should pay the families, claiming they exploited their trauma.

“Netflix gets profit, Dahmer victim’s families suffer. This is just not, it’s not fair, it’s not fair,” Jacobson said.