Ryan Murphy Has No Interest in Meeting Menendez Brothers After Monsters

Ryan Murphy remains unbothered by the backlash to the newest season of Monsters — and has no plans to meet Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez after they slammed his dramatization of their infamous murder case.

“I have no interest in talking to them,” Murphy, 58, told Variety on Thursday, September 26, after being asked about actor Cooper Koch and Kim Kardashian visiting the Menéndez siblings in prison. “It’s very good that Cooper has a relationship with them, and I’m very close, obviously, with Kim Kardashian, who has spoken to them.”

Murphy showed support for Kardashian’s endeavor, adding, “I love Kim, and I believe she does God’s work. I believe in prison reform. I believe in everything she believes in. I don’t know what I would say to them. What would I ask them? I know what their perspective is.”

After Erik, 53, and Lyle’s loved ones called out how he portrayed the duo on Monsters, the executive producer made it clear that he wasn’t fazed.

“The family’s response is predictable at best. I find it interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking,” he noted. “It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before. What we’re doing is we’re the first to present it in one contained ecosystem. What’s grotesque about it?”

Ryan Murphy Has No Interest in Meeting Erik Lyle Menendez Calls Monsters Backlash Predictable — (L to R) Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez. Miles Crist/Netflix

Murphy added: “[Erik’s wife] Tammi [and] the family, they have always done this and they did this recently — they say, ‘lies after lies.’ But then they don’t say what the lies are. They don’t back up anything.”

Season 2 of the hit Netflix series debuted in September and chronicled Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik’s (Koch) 1989 arrest for the murder of their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). Episodes 4 and 5 received critical and fan praise for introducing Erik and Lyle’s claims that they killed their parents in self-defense following years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

The rest of the season, however, came under fire for several inaccuracies about the Menéndez brothers, including the insinuation that they were in a sexual relationship. (Season 1 of Monster, which was centered around Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer, also received backlash after family members of Dahmer’s victims claimed Murphy didn’t contact them before covering the infamous serial killer.)

Erik released a statement slamming Monsters one day after it was released.

“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant in the show,” read a statement from Erik that was shared via Lyle’s Facebook page. “I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It 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.”

Murphy had stood by his decision not to pick a side on screen. Koch, 28, who played Erik, has taken a different approach by openly showing his support for the brothers as he recounted their meeting.

“We just looked at each other, and immediately embraced. He was so kind. Lyle, too, I got to hug both of them and just be in their presence,” Koch, 28, revealed on Thursday during a Today show appearance. “They’re such upstanding individuals. They’ve done so much work in their prison. Erik teaches meditation and speech classes, and they’re doing this Greenspace project to improve the prison grounds. It was just amazing.”

During his interview with Variety, Murphy said Monsters was “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.”

“They are now being talked about by millions of people all over the world. There’s a documentary coming out in two weeks about them, also on Netflix. And I think the interesting thing about it is it’s asking people to answer the questions, ‘Should they get a new trial? Should they be let out of jail? What happens in our society? Should people be locked away for life? Is there no chance ever at rehabilitation?’” he detailed. “I’m interested in that, and a lot of people are talking about it. We’re asking really difficult questions, and it’s giving these brothers another trial in the court of public opinion. From what I can tell, it’s really opened up the possibility that this evidence that they claim that they have, maybe that there is going to be a way forward for them.”

Although he thinks Erik and Lyle, 56, would not have gotten a life without parole sentence today, he doesn’t feel the need to become a Menéndez advocate.

“The second trial was a travesty. I think it’s insane that all of the evidence that they claim really happened was not allowed to be admissible,” he continued. “That’s a mistake. I think the behavior of those male jurors is an outrage. I think a lot of those jurors were homophobic. I think that they refused to accept the idea that sexual abuse could happen to men. I think that’s outrageous. So what do I think? I think that if there’s new evidence, yes, it should be heard. I also personally do not believe that someone should spend their entire life in prison.”

Murphy concluded: “I believe in justice, but I don’t believe in being a part of that machine. That’s not my job. My job as an artist was to tell a perspective in a particular story. I feel I’ve done that, but I wish them well.”

Monsters is currently streaming on Netflix.

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