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Everyone is watching Ryan Murphy's show about the Menendez brothers. One of them has spoken out about it.

Ryan Murphy's new show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is here, and already, the controversial show has garnered so much attention. A follow-up to the hit series Monster: Dahmer, the Netflix series was released on September 19, and while some have certainly praised the show's performances, others have criticised its depiction of the real-life events.

The biggest critic of all, however, has been Erik Menendez himself.

On September 19, Menendez's wife, Tammi, shared a post to X about Erik's response to the Netflix show. 

"I 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," the statement read. "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."

Watch the MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story trailer here. Article continues after video.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is a true crime drama based on the infamous 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, who were shot dead by their two sons, Erik and Lyle Menendez in their Beverly Hills home.

At the time of the trial, the Menendez brothers argued that they acted in self defence and referred to alleged sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their parents. On the other side, the prosecution claimed the murders were purely driven by financial means, as the brothers were set to inherit their father's fortune. 

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In recent years, the case has resurfaced on social media, prompting many people to look at the brothers in a more sympathetic light. Some have come to believe that while the Menendez brothers committed a terrible crime, they were also victims of abuse — rather than cold-blooded killers who were solely motivated by money. 

The announcement of the series prompted a lot of buzz, but some criticised the decision to include the brothers in the 'Monster' anthology series, as they felt it was inappropriate to put the brothers in the same category as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who the first season was based on. 

"We all know who the real monsters are," one user commented on Netflix's Instagram. 

Another said, "Their parents and Ryan Murphy are the real monsters. Don't get it twisted."

Erik Menendez and is brother Lyle, in front of their Beverly Hills home. Image: Getty

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In his statement, Menendez also criticised the portrayal of his and Lyle's story, and accused the show of diminishing the allegations of abuse that the two allegedly suffered at the hands of their parents. 

"It is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward 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," he wrote. 

"How demoralising is it to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma," the statement continued. "Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic."

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Menendez's comments come at a time where there has also been criticism of the way the Menendez trial was handled. 

At a time where male sexual assault victims were often brushed off and pushed aside, looking back to the first trial in 1993, social media users pointed out the many troubling sentiments that certainly reflected the ignorance of the time. 

According to Yahoo News, during the trial, prosecutor Pam Bozanich argued that "men could not be raped because they lack the necessary equipment to be raped".

TRIAL OF BROTHERS LYLE & ERIK MENENDEZ. Image: Getty

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New evidence recently has also sparked debate online regarding the brothers' convictions.

In court papers obtained by Los Angeles Magazine, two new pieces of evidence are sited that seem to point to the brothers' abuse allegations. The first is the allegations made by former member of 1980s boy band, Menudo, who claimed that he was drugged and sexually abused by Jose Menendez when he was a teenager. 

The second piece of evidence is an alleged handwritten letter by Erik Menendez to his cousin in 1989, prior to the murder of Jose and Kitty, which details his abuse from his father. 

The online discussion continues to boil after the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix. And while there is no doubt the brothers killed their parents in a horrific way, the ethical questions around the series, and the trial itself, continue to swirl.

"I hope it is never forgotten 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," Menendez's statement concluded.

Feature image: Getty / Netflix.

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