Menendez Family Slams Netflix's 'Monsters' Series as Star Cooper Koch & More Defend the Show

More members of the Mendendez family are coming out, slamming the new Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erick Menendez Story.

Erik Menendez‘s wife Tammi has released a statement on behalf of their aunt Joan VanderMolen and their extended family, putting the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan-created limited series about the Mendendez brothers’ murder and trial.

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“We are virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menéndez,” the family’s statement says, via Variety. “We are 24 strong and today we want the world to know we support Erik and Lyle. We individually and collectively pray for their release after being imprisoned for 35 years. We know them, love them, and want them home with us.”

They call the show “a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations.”

Continuing, the family states other relatives have “been victimized by this grotesque shockadrama,” and “Murphy claims he spent years researching the case but in the end relied on debunked Dominick Dunne, the pro-prosecution hack, to justify his slander against us and never spoke to us.”

“The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a ‘storytelling narrative’ is repulsive,” the family says. “We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys. We love them and to this very day we are close to them. We also know what went on in their home and the unimaginably turbulent lives they have endured. Several of us were eyewitnesses to many atrocities one should never have to bear witness to.”

“It is sad that Ryan Murphy, Netflix, and all others involved in this series, do not have an understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse,” they conclude. “Perhaps, after all, ‘Monsters’ is all about Ryan Murphy.”

The extended family’s statement comes days after the show premiered and after Erik‘s own statement about their portrayal in the series.

Meanwhile, stars from the show, including Cooper Koch, who portrayed Erik, Javier Bardem (Jose Mendendez) and Nathan Lane (Dominick Dunne), have come out defending the show.

Cooper shared that Erik‘s response “definitely affected me and it made me feel things,.” adding, “I sympathize with him, I empathize with him. I get it. I understand how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised for millions of people to see. It’s so exposing. I understand how he feels and I stand by him. In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him.”

“I know he has spoken, but I haven’t read it,” Javier Bardem told Variety. “But of course it’s absolutely normal, logical and legitimate to say what you think about your own life being on a show. I support that. [Series creators] Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give different perspectives, different views of the same issue because nothing is set in stone. That also includes the way to perform the character. We have to be open as actors to play and shift from one perspective to the other, depending on who are who is telling the story.”

Nathan Lane said, “You know, he hasn’t seen the show. He’s Just criticizing it and condemning it without ever having seen it, so one has to take that with a grain of salt. Obviously, to have your life portrayed this way in a Netflix miniseries … he wasn’t one of the producers, so not everything might be flattering or make you happy. But I would say you should probably see it before you speak out again.”

In case you missed it, see how Ryan Murphy reacted to Erik Mendendez‘s criticism of the show.