Some viewers slammed the series for portraying brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted for killing their parents, as lovers.
Topline
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” a new Netflix series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan based on the 1989 killings of José and Kitty Menendez by their sons, is courting controversy among viewers and critics for scenes viewers say implies the brothers had an incestuous relationship.Key Facts
“Monsters,” Murphy’s follow-up to his Emmy-winning Jeffrey Dahmer series (also titled “Monster”), has garnered mixed reviews and critical reactions on social media after all nine episodes released Thursday.
Some social media users have criticized the series for scenes that imply that Lyle and Erik Menendez, who in real life are serving life sentences in prison for killing their parents, whom they allege sexually abused them, had an incestuous relationship, though there is little evidence this was true in real life.
In the series’ second episode, the brothers kiss on the lips in one scene in which they discuss their future plans, and later in that episode, the two dance closely while caressing each other’s faces at a party, receiving confused and disgusted looks from other partygoers.
Later in the series, journalist Dominick Dunne suggests the brothers killed their parents to hide that they were lovers, though the real Dunne reportedly never espoused this theory in his coverage of their trial.
