Erik Menendez Responds to 'Monsters,' Says Ryan Murphy "Cannot Be This Naive and Inaccurate About the Facts"

Within days of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dropping on Netflix, an X account claiming to be run by Erik's wife Tammi Menendez has posted a response on the social media app. The nine-part series is the follow-up to the insanely popular Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which suffered its fair share of blowbacks from family members of Dahmer's victims.

The series comes from American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy, who has often been criticized for his sympathetic portrayal of murderers. In the case of the second season of Monsters, the response vacillates between shock and disgust. People less familiar with the Menendez brothers might treat the fictionalized telling of the murder of their parents as fact. Others have criticized the show, saying it is severely lacking in truth. Let's take a look at Erik Menendez's response to Monsters.

Tammi shared Erik's response to Monsters the same day the show was released on Netflix. It begins with Erik defending his brother Lyle, suggesting that Murphy created a caricature of him "rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show." Erik is of the opinion that Murphy intentionally misled viewers about who Lyle was and is as a person. "I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives, so as to do this without bad intent," wrote Erik.

The statement goes on to say that this series continues to spread misinformation regarding how men experience rape trauma by suggesting they process it differently than women. According to Erik, countless victims have come forward in the past two decades to share their stories of abuse, despite the shame surrounding them. This series pushes them back into the dark and perpetuates a "horrible narrative" about male rape victims using "appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of [him]."

He calls for the truth to be enough and says it should speak for itself. "How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma," Erik shares. Erik also somewhat ironically states that "Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic," though he is referencing violence against children.

He ends his missive by reminding people that "violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour, and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved." It should be noted that halfway through the series, the alleged sexual abuse by José Menendez is depicted in fictionalized flashbacks.