Ryan Murphy is feeling some type of way about the backlash surrounding his latest Netflix hit, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story.
“We had an obligation to so many people, not just to Erik and Lyle,” Murphy, 58, told The Hollywood Reporter in a profile published on Tuesday, October 1. “But that’s what I find so fascinating; that they’re playing the victim card right now — ‘poor, pitiful us’ — which I find reprehensible and disgusting.”
Murphy insisted that he and cocreator Ian Brennan “100 percent” delivered a product they were proud of, telling the publication that they “set out to do exactly what we wanted to do.”
Monsters premiered on Netflix last month and has been making headlines ever since, with some critics fixating on the incestual moments shown between the fictionalized versions of Lyle (Nicholas Anthony Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch).
“I’ll tell you my thoughts about the Menéndez brothers. The Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers,” Murphy told THR on Tuesday. “They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case. I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did.”
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Lyle and Erik are currently serving life in prison following the 1989 murders of their parents, Kitty and José Menéndez. Erik previously shared a statement slamming Murphy’s television show.
“There is no world that we live in where the Menéndez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, ‘You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.’ That was never going to happen, and I wasn’t interested in that happening,” Murphy continued. “The thing that the Menéndez brothers and their people neglect is that we were telling a story that was a very broad canvas.”
Aside from Lyle and Erik, the show focused on investigative journalist Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) and attorney Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor). Kitty and José were played by Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem, respectively.
The scene featuring Chavez, 25, and Koch, 28, in the shower — which has received the most backlash from viewers — is Lane’s character Dunne’s perception of what the brothers were like at home. The show also focused on the alleged sexual abuse Lyle and Erik experienced at the hands of their father.
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“I also think that two things can be true at the same time. I think they could have killed their parents, and also had been abused,” Murphy added. “They could have been of ambiguous moral character as young people and be rehabilitated now. So, I think that story is complicated.”
Despite the ongoing discourse, Murphy said he is “thrilled” with the reaction to the series — especially when it comes to praise for Chavez and Koch.
“I think Cooper and Nicholas are much more empathetic toward the Menéndez brothers than I am, but good,” he concluded. “There’s room for all points of view.”
