Ryan Murphy Defends Adding Incest To His Menendez Brother Series
There's a ton of controversy around this show.
Content warning: This article contains mention of alleged sexual abuse. It’s not too surprising that a dramatized series about the Menendez brothers would attract some unease, but Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has become a lightning-rod of controversy for an unexpected reason. Several scenes in the series strongly suggest that Lyle and Erik may have had a romantic relationship with one another, a choice that viewers and case experts alike have called recklessly sensationalized. As the backlash mounted, show creator Ryan Murphy explained the decision to include the storyline.
“What the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case,” Murphy told Entertainment Tonight. “Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view just as we present Leslie Abramson's point of view. We had an obligation to show all of that, and we did.”
Murphy is referencing the work of reporter Dominick Dunne, who’s portrayed by Nathan Lane in the series. However, Robert Rand, an expert on the case who authored The Menendez Murders, has hit back at Dunne’s incestuous theory, calling it a fantasy.
“I don’t believe that Erik and Lyle Menendez were ever lovers. I think that’s a fantasy that was in the mind of Dominick Dunne,” Rand told The Hollywood Reporter after Monsters premiered. “Rumors were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves. But I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified, that when Lyle was 8 years old, he took Erik out in the woods and played with him with a toothbrush — which is what [their father] José had done with him. And so I certainly wouldn’t call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It’s a response to trauma.”
Numerous moments in Monsters lean into an imagined sexual relationship between Lyle and Erik, including a scene where the brothers are caught showering together. One clip that has gone viral shows the two brothers kissing.
Erik himself called out the series, albeit in a more general takedown. “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,” Erik wrote in a statement, via Forbes. “How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”
