Ryan Murphy Says Lyle and Erik Menendez Should Be "Sending Me Flowers" Amid Series Backlash

Ryan Murphy has no regrets when it comes to his work.

Two weeks after Erik Menendez slammed the Netflix true crime series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for its portrayal of his and his older brother Lyle Menendez's conviction for the 1989 murders of their parents José and Kitty Menendez, the show's co-creator believes the pair should be grateful rather than "playing the victim card."

"The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers," Ryan told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Oct. 1. "They haven't had so much attention in 30 years. And it's gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There's an outpouring of interest in their lives and the case. I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did."

He emphasized that the show, which he developed with Ian Brennan, wasn't meant to focus only on the siblings but also their parents, their defense team and the journalists who covered the story at the time.

(In the show, Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez star as Erik and Lyle, respectively, with Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as their parents.)

"The thing that the Menendez brothers and their people neglect is that we were telling a story that was a very broad canvas," the 58-year-old said. "We had an obligation to so many people, not just to Erik and Lyle. But that's what I find so fascinating; that they're playing the victim card right now—'poor, pitiful us'—which I find reprehensible and disgusting."

In 1996, after two trials, Erik and Lyle were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder for the killings of their parents. While prosecutors said their motivation for the murders was to inherit their family fortune, the brothers alleged that their mom and dad physically, emotionally and sexually abused them for years. Their legal team argued the killings were in self-defense.

"I also think that two things can be true at the same time," Ryan continued. "I think they could have killed their parents, and also had been abused. They could have been of ambiguous moral character as young people, and be rehabilitated now. So I think that story is complicated."

E! News has reached out to attorneys for the Menendez brothers and has not yet heard back.

Meanwhile, the American Horror Story creator said he achieved what he had sought with the Netflix series and hopes Erik will take some time to view it.

"I think if he did watch it, he would be incredibly proud of Cooper, who plays him," Ryan told E! News last month. "I think the show is very interesting—what we're trying to do is show many, many, many, many perspectives."

But Erik was less than impressed with the depiction.

"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," Erik said in a statement shared to X, formerly Twitter, by his wife Tammi Menendez last month. "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."

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