The story of Lyle and Erik Menendez is an irresponsible tale of murder

Since their first trial for the gun murder of their parents in 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez have consistently maintained that their father, José Menendez, sexually abused them with the full knowledge of their mother, Kitty Menendez. Since their 1996 conviction for first-degree murder, numerous films, documentaries and “Law & Order” episodes have been produced for television about the brothers and their motivations. Now, 35 years after the fact, Ryan Murphy offers a new, irresponsible take on Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story hinting at the incestuous relationship between Lyle and Erik.

Now, 35 years after the fact, Ryan Murphy offers a new, irresponsible take on Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story hinting at the incestuous relationship between Lyle and Erik.

Although Lyle testified during the trial that he never had an intimate relationship with Eric, Murphy’s show depicts the brothers kissing and showering together, implying that their sibling relationship has developed into something romantic.

Even though Murphy’s series topped Netflix’s top 10 list, it sparked an immediate backlash. Among the critics is Erik Menendez, who, like his brother, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. “I am sorry that Netflix’s unfair portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths back several steps – to a time when prosecutors built a narrative based on a belief system that men were not sexually abused, and that men experienced the trauma of rape differently than women,” he said in a statement published on X by his wife, Tammi Menendez.

Murphy disagrees, telling “Entertainment Tonight” that his show aims to adequately capture multiple viewpoints, including the brothers’. “As storytellers, we had a responsibility to try to present their point of view based on our research, which we did,” he said. He justified the inclusion of the incest story, telling E! News: “Every episode you get a new theory based on people who were involved in or handled the case.”

The incest plot is based on a series of stories that the late journalist Dominick Dunne reported for Vanity Fair in the 1990s. Murphy says it was the show’s responsibility to provide that perspective. “We present (Dunne’s) point of view just like we present the point of view of Leslie Abramson (the Menendez brothers’ therapist),” Murphy explained. We had an obligation to show it all, and we did.

However, Dunne’s theories are presented in the series as fact rather than possibility, although there is no actual evidence that the brothers had an incestuous relationship. Instead, the episodes devoted to Lyle and Erik’s perspectives also present incest as if it unequivocally occurred, without drawing attention to the very real possibility that it did not. Instead, the incest narrative is used to portray the brothers as deviants who, if they are able to hide the relationship, are able to plan the murder of their parents and then fictionalize their childhood abuse to justify their crime.

“I don’t believe Erik and Lyle Menendez were ever lovers,” Menendez biographer Robert Rand told The Hollywood Reporter, although he claims Lyle testified that when he was 8, he took Erik to the woods and played sexually with him with a toothbrush. for his teeth, something he testified that José did to him. “So I certainly wouldn’t call it any kind of sexual intercourse,” Rand said. “It’s a reaction to trauma.”

To be clear, prosecutors said the brothers fictionalized their father’s abuse and mother’s indifference, and the state eventually managed to convince a jury (and much of the American public) that Lyle and Erik murdered their parents to gain access to their large inheritance. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that the brothers went on an elaborate spending spree in the six months before they were arrested. While the motive may have been inheritance, there is more evidence that the brothers were sexually abused than that, as Murphy’s show suggests, they were closely associated.

Their cousin Brian Andersen testified that José forced his sons to shower with him after every tennis practice. “As soon as José brought either of the boys into the room, the door was closed behind them and Kitty made it clear that you were not walking down the hall,” Andersen testified. Another cousin, Andres Cano, testified that 8-year-old Erik asked him if it was normal for a father to “massage” his son’s genitals and replied that he “wanted them to stop.”

In addition to building an incest plot, the series sensationalizes the sexual abuse that the Menendez brothers claim took place for our entertainment.

In addition to building an incest plot on a flimsy foundation, the show sensationalizes the sexual abuse that the Menendez brothers claim took place for our entertainment. This is a sin that plagues many true crime reenactments. Instead of increasing understanding of the impact of sexual violence on children, especially boys, “Monsters“ instead, it feeds into our cultural impulse to stare at a horrific crime without questioning what many signs point to as the actual source: childhood sexual assault.

Erik and Lyle Menendez aren’t the only ones who have accused José of sexual assault. In Peacock’s 2023 docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” Roy Rosselló, former member of the 1980s pop band Menudo, told José, an RCA Records executive, when he was killed, drugged and raped.

It’s disheartening that “Monster” sensationalizes the Menendez brothers’ case and brings it back into the spotlight without raising awareness of the effects of childhood sexual assault. If it is important to reopen the case against the Menendez brothers more than thirty years later, as Murphy apparently believes, then it should be done using the knowledge we now have about how sexual assault changes those who experience it. It doesn’t matter whether “Monsters” is fictionalized; Injecting incest into an already traumatic story is cruel and unnecessary.

Rand, who believes that José repeatedly attacked his sons, stated that they should have been convicted of manslaughter, not murder, and given a sentence much less than life imprisonment. I usually agree.

Our cultural understanding of sexual violence has evolved enormously since the 1990s. We understand that sexual violence has no gender, which means that boys and men are as vulnerable to assault as anyone else of any gender. We know that sexual violence is about power, and when people are repeatedly raped by authority figures who are supposed to protect them, it often has lifelong traumatic consequences. We know that courts are much more likely than in the 1990s to consider long-term childhood trauma, including sexual assault, as a mitigating factor when sentencing violent crimes.

Had Murphy fully considered these elements, he would have removed the incest storyline, especially given the likelihood that many viewers would first learn about the Menendez case through his show. However, he seems to have succumbed to his desire to entertain at the expense of those who were likely victims of violence, which seems to have overshadowed the humanity needed to tell this story with the nuance it deserves.

We understand that sexual violence has no gender, which means that boys and men are as vulnerable to assault as anyone else of any gender.

Murphy tells “Entertainment Tonight” that “60 to 65 percent of our shows in scripted and film form revolve around violence and what they think happened to them.” While the series tries to thoroughly discuss the childhood sexual abuse the brothers claim to have experienced, if they have experienced sexual violence, their trauma is once again repackaged into entertainment.

Where is the concern for the impact that another show dealing with childhood trauma might have on them mentally and emotionally? Apparently this level of care and attention was given in the name of making television, which is something other survivors have made against Murphy for previous crime shows he has made. If this continues as we tell the story of the Menendez family, perhaps it’s time to stop retreading ground and give Erik and Lyle something their stories of abuse suggest they may never have known: peace.