Erik Menendez is slamming the 鈥渄ishonest portrayal鈥� of his life in Netflix鈥檚 鈥淢onsters: The Lyle and Erick Menendez Story.鈥�
Menendez was convicted with his older brother, Lyle, of the fatal 1989 shootings of their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez. The two brothers, who are serving life sentences for the murders, argued that they acted in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of abuse by their father. In a statement shared on by his wife, Erik Menendez called the series, which was co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, 鈥渞uinous.鈥�
鈥淚 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,鈥� 鈥淚t 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.鈥�
The nine-episode series revisits the crime from various perspectives, including speculation about the brothers鈥� relationship and the argument by prosecutors that the murders were motivated by money.
鈥淚t is sad for me to know that Netflix鈥檚 dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward 鈥� 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,鈥� Mendendez wrote. 鈥淚s the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.鈥�
Murphy and Brennan have not publicly commented on Menendez鈥檚 post.
鈥淸The show] is really more interested in talking about how monsters are made as opposed to born,鈥� Murphy said during a panel at an early screening of the show鈥檚 first episode, . 鈥淲e try to not have too much judgment about that because we鈥檙e trying to understand why they did something, as opposed to the act of doing something.鈥�
鈥淯ltimately the truth of what happened is not knowable by anybody else, other than two people who are sitting in prison right now,鈥� Brennan added.
鈥淢onsters鈥� second season released last week and follows .鈥� Erik Menendez, now 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, are serving their sentences at the same correctional facility near San Diego, California. Their attorneys last year that new evidence in the case should overturn their convictions.
鈥淰iolence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic,鈥� Menendez wrote. 鈥淎s 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 glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved.鈥�
