Ryan Murphy is defending his new Netflix show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story , amid criticism from one of the brothers at the center of the infamous murder case. Erik Menendez slammed Monsters in a statement a day after the show’s September 19 release, expressing frustration with “Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime.” On Monday, September 23, Murphy issued a rebuttal in an interview with Entertainment Tonight .
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” the writer-producer, 58, told the outlet, adding, “It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen.” Murphy said that “if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent” of the scripted narrative 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.
” Monsters has drawn controversy for how it depicts Erik, 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, in recounting the events that led up to their murder trial. The siblings — portrayed by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez , respectively — were convicted for killing their parents in 1989 and remain behind bars to this day. Murphy and his Monsters cowriters present different perspectives on Erik and Lyle’s motives, including their claims that they’d acted in self-defense following years of alleged physical, emotional and sex.