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Ryan Murphy has ‘no interest’ meeting Menendez brothers amid backlash: ‘Monsters’ is ‘best thing that’s happened to them in 30 years’

Ryan Murphy is standing his ground. 

The prolific and controversial TV creator and producer, 58, has remained unfazed, as his show “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has been slammed by the real Menendez brothers. 

“I have no interest in talking to them,” Murphy told Variety in an interview published Thursday.

He added, “… I’m very close, obviously, with Kim Kardashian, who has spoken to them. I love Kim, and I believe she does God’s work. I believe in prison reform. I believe in everything she believes in. I don’t know what I would say to them. What would I ask them? I know what their perspective is.”

Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit in Beverly Hills Municipal Court on March 12, 1990. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ryan Murphy speaks onstage during the Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, NY Tastemaker at Crosby Hotel on September 12, 2024. Getty Images for Netflix
Javier Bardem, Cooper Koch, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ryan Murphy and Chloe Sevigny at the
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” Los Angeles Premiere, Sept. 16, 2024. AFF-USA/Shutterstock

Erik, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, are currently serving life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. 

They alleged that their father had sexually abused them. 

The show, which premiered Sept. 19 on Netflix, is the second season of Murphy’s “Monsters” anthology series. It began with its first season, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which earned its star, Evan Peters, a Golden Globe, and became Netflix’s second most popular show, despite Dahmer’s real life victims slamming the show. 

“Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story” dramatizes the killings and the trials that ended with the brothers’ 1996 conviction. Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny star as their parents, while Cooper Koch plays Erik and Nicholas Alexander Chavez plays Lyle. 

Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., August 6, 1990. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” MILES CRIST/NETFLIX
A family portrait of Jose Menendez, Lyle Menendez, Kitty Menendez and Erik Menendez. IMDB

After the show premiered, Erik Menendez spoke out in a statement on Lyle’s facebook page on Sept. 20. 

“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,” he wrote.

Erik blasted Murphy and said that the TV creator “shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slander.”

Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Chloe Sevigny as Kitty Menendez, Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Lyle, left, and Erik, right, in their most recent jail mugshots from 2023. CDCR/MEGA
Menendez brothers, Erik, left, and Lyle on the steps of their Beverly Hills home in November, 1989. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Murphy told Variety, “The family’s response is predictable at best.”

“I find it interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking. It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before.” 

Murphy, who is also known for the “American Horror Story” franchise and “Glee,” added that he believes that the show is “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.”

He continued, “They are now being talked about by millions of people all over the world.”

“[The show is] asking people to answer the questions, ‘Should they get a new trial? Should they be let out of jail? What happens in our society? Should people be locked away for life? Is there no chance ever at rehabilitation?’”

Ryan Murphy in Sept. 2024. John Salangsang/Shutterstock
Nicholas Chavez as Lyle and Cooper Koch as Erik in “Monsters.” MILES CRIST/NETFLIX
Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” MILES CRIST/NETFLIX

Murphy said that he’s “interested” in that topic, and people are talking about it.

“We’re asking really difficult questions, and it’s giving these brothers another trial in the court of public opinion. From what I can tell, it’s really opened up the possibility that this evidence that they claim that they have, maybe that there is going to be a way forward for them.” 

This post was originally posted by NYPost

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Written by Lauren Sarner

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