“This is the official response from Joan VanderMolen (Erik’s aunt) and the Menendez family to the Netflix series ‘Monsters, the Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ and to Ryan Murphy,” she wrote in the tweet before sharing the statement. Ryan Murphy was co-creator and co-writer of the series, which is now in its second season.

The family began their statement with a show of support for the imprisoned brothers.

“We are basically the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menéndez. “We are 24 strong and today we want the world to know that we support Erik and Lyle,” the statement said.

Members of the Menendez family said they are praying for the release of Lyle Menendez, 56, and Erik Menendez, 53, who were convicted after two trials in 1996 of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The brothers, who were 21 and 18 at the time of the crime in 1989, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lyle and Erik Menendez’s family members emphasize their closeness to the brothers.

“We know them, love them and want them to be in our home,” the statement says, before characterizing the show.

“Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters, the Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story’ is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only full of falsehoods and outright untruths, but also ignores recent exculpatory revelations. “Our family has become a victim of this grotesque shock drama,” the statement continued.

The family said Murphy’s account was based on reporting by Dominick Dunne – the late author, journalist and producer who covered the Menendez trial – rather than the family. Murphy “never spoke to the family,” the statement said.

“The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, our nephews and cousins, under the guise of ‘storytelling’ is disgusting,” the family said. “We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys. We love them and remain close to them to this day.”

The family said some were “eyewitnesses” to the alleged abuse the brothers suffered.

They concluded: “It is sad that Ryan Murphy, Netflix and everyone else involved in this series has no understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.” Maybe Monsters is all about Ryan Murphy after all .”

Her scathing reaction to the series follows Erik Menendez’s critical statement about how the story was told over the nine episodes.

Tammi Menendez previously uploaded a statement from him to X on September 19th.

“I believed that we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle and created a caricature of Lyle based on terrible and blatant lies that were rife in the series,” he said in part. “I can only believe they did this on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say: I believe that Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives as to do this without malicious intent.”

He added that the show was a “dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime.”

“Monster” is an anthology series. While the second season focused on Lyle and Erik Menendez, the first season focused on Jeffrey Dahmer and received backlash from his victims’ family.

After the second season received more criticism, Murphy responded. He addressed Erik Menendez’s statement while speaking to E! spoke. News on the red carpet of his new show “Grotesquerie”.

“I know he hasn’t seen the show. I find that strange,” Murphy said.

He added: “I hope he watches it. I think if he watched it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch, who plays him.”

Murphy continued that the series presents multiple perspectives and theories in each episode, including Dunne’s perspective.

“Some of the controversy seems to stem from people thinking, for example, that the brothers have an incestuous relationship. There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it happened,” he said.

He explained that the purpose of the show, which he described as a “crime mystery,” was to give the audience a chance to decide who was innocent or guilty.

Murphy also said that the series tackles the issue of male sexual abuse “responsibly.”

Summarizing his thoughts on the backlash, he said: “I’m used to it. I write about provocative and controversial things and my motto is: “Never complain and never explain.””