Netflix fans are finding Ryan Murphy’s latest project to be a different kind of American Horror Story.
The prolific 58-year-old creator’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”, which dropped Thursday, is facing backlash from viewers, who find the suggestion of an incestuous relationship between the infamous brothers “disrespectful” and “disgusting.”
The nine-part, fictionalized series takes us through the events leading up to the sensational 1989 slaying of Jose and Kitty Menendez at the hands of their two sons, who insisted their father sexually abused them — along with the aftermath of the brutal crime.
The innuendo kicks off in the second episode, titled “Spree,” where it’s hinted that Lyle, now 56, and Erik, 53, had a romantic relationship — starting with a scene where Lyle (portrayed by Nicholas Chavez) enthusiastically kisses his brother (Cooper Koch).
The show presents the suggestion of incest as a journalist’s theory, that the brothers were “hiding an even darker secret” that had “nothing to do with Jose,” allegedly floated at the time by Vanity Fair’s Dominic Dunne — a plot point which has been reported as only partly factual.
In the first so-called problematic episode, the siblings have already killed their parents, and Lyle is now laying out a vision to Erik of their futures being bright, now that Jose and Kitty are gone. He tells his brother that the two will live their best lives at LA’s exclusive Hotel Bel-Air — before smooching him on the lips.
Fans flocked to social media to share their disapproval, with one viewer writing on X, “The Menendez brothers were victims of sexual abuse,” before calling the show “incestuous fanfic.”
“This is terrible,” another X user tut-tutted in response to a video of the kissing scene. “Why are they portraying the Menendez brothers this way??? They never enjoyed doing these things. What kind of POV is this??? We need empathy — not sexualisation.”
The “incestuous stuff in the show is disrespectful,” an X poster tsked.
Rounding out the shocked responses, a fan ranted, “If Ryan wanted to make a show about twin brothers developing an intimate relationship with each other due to shared sexual trauma and parental abuse, then he should’ve written a new story. You don’t get to rewrite the experience of real people and REAL VICTIMS to suit yourself!”
In another episode, viewers see Lyle and Erik are dancing seductively at a party together before Lyle does a line of cocaine. He then comes up to his brother, who is dancing with a woman and gets between them.
At one point, the duo dance closely before Erik wipes powder from his brother’s nose and places his thumb into his mouth. Partygoers look on in disbelief.
Although the real-life Dunne reportedly never published any incest theory in his coverage of the trial, he did write that sources told him Lyle and Erik had been sexually abused in his 1990 Vanity Fair article, “Nightmare on Elm Drive.”
Lyle and Erik’s first trial ended in two hung juries in 1994. The admission of evidence regarding the siblings’ alleged sexual abuse was ruled as inadmissible during their second trial.
The brothers were convicted of murder in their second trial and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996.
Lyle tied the knot while in prison with Anna Eriksson in 1996 before divorcing in 2001. He has been married to Rebecca Sneed since 2003. Erik has been married to wife Tammi since 1999.
Murphy faced a similar outcry after releasing a Netflix mini-series about the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer in 2022, which reportedly left some viewers “nauseated.”
The lurid retelling went on to become the second most streamed show on the platform, shortly after its release.
