The backlash in opposition to Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters simply retains coming — and now the solid has spoken out in protection of their scripted present about Lyle and Erik Menéndez‘s notorious homicide case.

Season 2 of the hit Netflix sequence debuted in September and chronicled Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik’s (Cooper Koch) 1989 arrest for the homicide of their mother and father, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). Taking inspiration from footage of the trial and subsequent interviews, Monsters mirrored key moments from Lyle and Erik’s lives earlier than and after they had been sentenced to life with out parole for taking pictures their mom and father.

Episodes 4 and 5 obtained essential and fan reward for introducing Erik and Lyle’s claims that they killed their mother and father in self-defense following years of alleged bodily, emotional and sexual abuse. Just like season 1 of Monster — which was centered round Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer — the present got here beneath fireplace for a number of inaccuracies concerning the Menéndez brothers, together with the insinuation that they had been in a sexual relationship.

Erik launched an announcement slamming Murphy’s manufacturing sooner or later after it was launched.

“I believed we had moved past the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, making a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant within the present,” learn an announcement from Erik that was shared by way of Lyle’s Fb web page. “I can solely imagine they had been performed so on function. It’s with a heavy coronary heart that I say, I imagine Ryan Murphy can’t be this naive and inaccurate concerning the info of our lives in order to do that with out dangerous intent.”

Erik expressed frustration with how his and Lyle’s views had been portrayed, including, “It’s unhappy for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths a number of steps backward — again by means of time to an period when the prosecution constructed a story on a perception system that males weren’t sexually abused, and that males skilled rape trauma in another way than girls.”

He continued: “These terrible lies have been disrupted and uncovered by numerous courageous victims over the past 20 years who’ve damaged by means of their private disgrace and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative by means of vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander. Is the reality not sufficient?”

Murphy and a number of other solid members acknowledged Erik’s displeasure with their interpretation of the high-profile case. The creator, nonetheless, has stood by the imaginative and prescient that got here collectively on display screen after loads of analysis.

“There have been 4 folks concerned [in the case],” he instructed Leisure Tonight. “Two of them are useless. What concerning the mother and father? We had an obligation as storytellers to additionally attempt to put of their perspective based mostly on our analysis, which we did.”

Preserve scrolling for every thing the solid stated concerning the backlash in opposition to the present — together with these incest insinuations:

Ryan Murphy

Murphy has defended how Monsters tried to not choose a facet.

“I believe it’s fascinating that he’s issued an announcement with out having seen the present. It’s actually, actually laborious — if it’s your life — to see your life up on display screen,” he shared with ET in September. “Should you watch the present, I might say 60 to 65 % [of the content centers] across the abuse and what they declare occurred to them. And we do it very fastidiously and we give them their day in court docket and so they discuss overtly about it.”

Murphy additionally pushed again about these incest insinuations, telling Selection, “Should you watch the present, what the present is doing is presenting the factors of view and theories from so many individuals who had been concerned within the case. [Vanity Fair journalist] Dominick Dunne [Nathan Lane] wrote a number of articles speaking about that concept. We’re presenting his standpoint. And we had an obligation to indicate all of that and we did.”

Nicholas Chavez

Throughout an unique interview with Us Weekly, Chavez mirrored on his expertise taking part in Lyle. “[Playing] Lyle Menéndez [on Monsters] necessitated extra considerate preparation since you wish to watch out and diligent with a personality like that,” he shared. “That is somebody who’s an actual particular person and who remains to be alive as we speak.”

Chavez was subsequently requested concerning the incest drama, telling Selection, “It’s a extremely fascinating query, and it was one thing that we mentioned fairly a bit as a part of this challenge, however finally it is a query that’s truthfully finest reserved for Ryan and the creators of the present.”

Nathan Lane

Monsters featured a sequence the place Dunne, who wrote concerning the trial for Self-importance Honest, talked about the siblings’ motives. After he recommended that the brothers had been hiding a secret earlier than the murders, the episode reduce to a scene of Kitty opening the lavatory door to find her sons having a shower collectively.

“There’s a cocktail party scene at Chateau Marmont, and Dominick’s discussing varied theories of what he thinks occurred with the brothers. At one level, that scene was initially 20 pages, and I talked about it much more. At one level, he says, ‘Maybe that is what occurred’ and means that there was an incestuous relationship between the 2 brothers, however that it had nothing to do with [their father] José, and that’s what [their mother] Kitty knew about,” Lane defined to Selection. “Nevertheless it’s simply him theorizing. He’s not saying that’s what occurred. He says that is another excuse why they could have killed them. However he’s simply posing one other concept.”

Lane urged viewers to recollect they’re watching “a dramatization and never a documentary” of a state of affairs.

“As Ryan has stated, they’ve proven all totally different factors of view about this case, and definitely they cowl Eric and Lyle discussing their sexual abuse by the hands of their father. So I believe you get many, many alternative opinions and factors of view about what occurred,” he continued. “In the end they’re the one ones who know for certain precisely what occurred. However I simply suppose the present is extraordinarily nicely written and fantastically acted by everyone.”

In response to a query about Erik’s response to the sequence, Lane inspired him to observe the present for himself.

“He hasn’t seen the present. He’s Simply criticizing it and condemning it with out ever having seen it, so one has to take that with a grain of salt,” he added. “Clearly, to have your life portrayed this manner in a Netflix miniseries — he wasn’t one of many producers, so not every thing is perhaps flattering or make you cheerful. However I might say you must most likely see it earlier than you converse out once more.”

Cooper Koch

Cooper’s brother, Payton Koch, reassured followers that the actor sympathizes with Erik.

“He cares immensely for the boys and stands with them and all victims of abuse. He did every thing he may to make sure their tales of abuse had been seen on display screen and I believe in episode 5, it’s abundantly clear the place he stands. Actors are solely vessels for the writers/producers of the present,” Payton shared by way of Instagram feedback in September. “Any true story portrayal goes to be robust, however please belief me after I say he does care about them and their story. ❤️‍🩹.”

Payton continued. “I completely perceive and listen to you. I’m glad you had been capable of see Erik in episode 5 and I can solely hope that individuals’s views are shifted to sympathize with the boys, regardless that the previous few episodes don’t painting them in one of the best gentle. Thanks for sharing and know you aren’t alone in the best way you are feeling 🫶🏼.”

Cooper launched his personal assertion concerning the incest hypothesis.

“I knew that this was a really controversial story, and that individuals had been going to be upset and affected by what they had been seeing. I believe although you do need to put it into context of the state of affairs, and that we’re kind of portray an image based mostly on what someone else’s perspective was,” he instructed Selection. “It’s not essentially the reality of what occurred. That’s simply what Dominick Dunne thinks and there I believe are different locations within the story the place it’s kind of planted to provide folks all of those totally different views and you already know.”

Cooper clarified that he “completely doesn’t” imagine the brothers had an incestuous relationship.

“I believe the aim of the present is to place all these views collectively and let the viewers be the jury. And on the finish of the present, you simply make your choice on what you imagine. And I believe it’s a extremely fascinating method of telling the story and simply storytelling normally,” Cooper continued. “I don’t suppose that’s true. And I don’t suppose it was meant by the present to make or break that fact. I believe that was only a concept that one particular person had and that acquired put into the present as a result of that particular person was a personality within the present. … I stand with Eric and every thing that he says in his testimony I imagine to be his fact, and I imagine him.”

On the time, Cooper admitted Erik’s response “positively affected” him.

“It made me really feel issues. I sympathize with him, I empathize with him. I get it. I perceive how tough it will be to have the worst a part of your life be televised for tens of millions of individuals to see. It’s so exposing,” the actor concluded. “I perceive how he feels and I stand by him. When it comes to approaching him and approaching the half, I simply actually wished to do as a lot analysis and dig actually deep into myself to actually painting him with integrity and simply be as genuine as attainable to assist him and in addition to assist his household and all of the individuals who stand with him.”

Chloe Sevigny

“I believe the entire creators and showrunners wished, firstly, for Nicholas and Cooper to really feel snug and to not do something that they didn’t wish to do. There have been folks there to guard them always on the units. And I stated, ‘So would you like me to do off-camera? Do you not need me to? Is it higher for you if I’m there or not there?’ All the things was performed to make sure that they felt protected and guarded, with intimacy coaches and so forth,” Sevigny shared in an announcement to Selection. “They had been allowed to chop and stroll away in the event that they ever wished to, and people boys had been so dedicated to the roles and the best way that Ian and Ryan wished to inform the story that they had been keen themselves to do nearly something. It was actually wonderful to observe them and the way invested they had been within the characters and the story. I simply felt like I used to be there to assist them.”

Javier Bardem

Regardless of not studying Erik’s criticism of the present, Bardem wasn’t stunned by the response.

“I do know he has spoken, however I haven’t learn it,” he famous to Selection. “However in fact it’s completely regular, logical and bonafide to say what you consider your individual life being on a present. I assist that. Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give totally different views, totally different views of the identical challenge as a result of nothing is about in stone. That additionally contains the best way to carry out the character. We’ve to be open as actors to play and shift from one perspective to the opposite, relying on who’s telling the story.”

Leslie Grossman

“Because the creators have stated concerning the present, they’re making a portray, not a documentary,” the actress instructed Folks. “So, it isn’t a documentary retelling of this story. It’s kind of a Rashomon mixture of all these totally different folks’s views.”

Grossman famous that Murphy and the artistic crew took “such painstaking care” when creating the sequence. “Ryan had been engaged on this for some time. There was a variety of analysis concerned for years earlier than it was even written,” she continued. “Look, the reality is there’s solely 4 folks in the entire world that know precisely what occurred, proper? Two of them usually are not right here anymore. And I believe the sequence simply tries to indicate all of the factors of view, you already know what I imply? After which it’s finally for the viewers to resolve what they give thought to this.”