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Ryan Murphy has responded after being slammed for scenes included in his latest Netflix series.
The Glee, American Horror Story and American Crime Story creator’s second season in the Monster anthology series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released last week.
It focuses on the murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their two sons in 1989 and the intense interest in the case that followed in the years after.
The brothers, then aged 21 and 18, cited years of abuse as the reason for murdering their parents, however, prosecutors argued that their motive was to get their hands on the family fortune.
Even before it was released, the show had already come under fire, but now it’s clouded in controversy after scenes were included suggesting the brothers had an incestuous relationship.
One showed them in the shower together while another saw the two kissing.
Now Murphy, 58, has spoken about the backlash, defending his decision to include certain details in the story.
‘I have many things to say about that. I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. It’s really really hard if it’s your life, to see it on screen,’ he said.
‘The thing I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quotes is, if you watch the show, I would say 60-65% of our show in the scripts and in the film centre around the abuse and what they claim happened to them.
‘And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it. In this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse, talking about it and writing about it and writing all points of view can be controversial,’ he added when speaking to Entertainment Tonight.
The showrunner went on to explain how there was also an ‘obligation’ to try and put in the perspective of Jose and Kitty based on the research undertaken for the project.
‘If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of views and theories from so many people who were involved in the case,’ he added.
Last week Erik slammed the series as a ‘dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding the crime’.
In a statement posted by his wife Tammi Menendez on social media, he wrote: ‘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. 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.’
‘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.
‘Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.’
Viewers tuning in also called the incestuous portrayal of the brothers as ‘vile’, ‘diabolical’ and ‘disturbing’.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is now streaming on Netflix.
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