Before the O.J. Simpson trial of the century in 1995, there was the highly contested Menendez Brothers case, the world’s first taste of true crime reality television (without these two cases, one could argue, we would have no Kardashians, and if you don’t know what that means, I suggest watching clips of the O.J. trial, and spotting a very eager Kris Jenner standing outside the courthouse, doing everything in her power to get some screen time with reporters). And as of late last month, pretty much everyone with internet access now knows about the case thanks to Ryan Murphy’s Netflix hit, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Despite varied opinions and criticism of the series spreading across the internet, the show generated more than 50% more views in its second week, after its release on September 21, 2024. Specifically, it became the most watched series on Netflix for a consecutive week with 153.8 million hours viewed as of September 23 to 29, a 57% jump from the 97.5 million hours in its initial week.

The series tells the true story of Erik and Lyle Menendez who murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, and the media fiasco that ensued when the public found out just why the two brothers had done it. Ryan Murphy called it “the best thing to happen to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.” Whether or not you agree with Murphy, and how arguably factual/fabricated his depiction is, as a piece of sheer entertainment, it delivered. But again, ever since its release, the internet has been flooded with starkly contrasting opinions relating to the outcome of the case, many lambasting the creator for his biased, untruthful take on the situation. One top rated comment on famed film lovers’ app, Letterboxd, says “There’s a special place in hell for ryan murphy,” with nearly 800 supporting ‘likes’. Ouch.

Erik Menendez himself – who, alongside his brother, Lyle, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole – gave a statement via his wife, Tammy Menendez, on X saying that “blatant lies were rampant in the show,” adding, “Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”

Ryan Murphy responded to Erik’s comment’s, calling them “faux outrage,” during an interview on Netflix’s fan focused website, Tudum.

But in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actors Cooper Koch (Erik Menendez) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Lyle Menendez) both expressed sympathy for the real life brothers/victims/convicts, with Koch saying that he felt Erik has served his due time behind bars, and that he deserved freedom. Javier Bardem, who plays Jose Menendez, was much more reserved when asked about whether or not the brothers deserve freedom, saying that it was not up to him, and he was merely here as an actor, nothing else.

American journalist, Terry Moran, who first reported on the case back in 1989 and was one of the first to arrive at the gruesome crime scene said, upon the media spectacle, “The case became like a Rorschach test. Did you see victims of abuse, or calculated killers?”

But as Lyle Menendez’s prosecutor, Pamela Bozanich, argued back in the 1990’s, and is seen echoing her thirty year old statement in a trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary, “This was plain old greed.” She also claims that in the age of TikTok, the case has garnered a new fanbase, consisting of young people voicing their opinion on a subject about which they are completely misinformed.

Not ones to let the controversy and media hype go to waste, Netflix was quick to capitalise on the situation, and is now releasing a follow up documentary, simply titled The Menendez Brothers on October 7, 2024, this Monday. The eagerly anticipated ‘true story’ of what really happened claims to have access to unearthed interviews with both the brothers, along with people surrounding the case, family members, and additional information supposedly never before seen by the public. For those who disagree with Murphy’s portrayal of the case, especially his depiction of an aggressively foul mothed Lyle Menendez, then perhaps this documentary will shed a different perspective on what really happened. Still, despite Murphy’s depiction, in the same interview on Tudum, he does express sympathy for the brothers, stating, “I don’t believe that anybody should spend their entire life in prison. I just don’t believe that, and the Menendez case is a perfect example of that. I think, if there is more evidence, and if there is a different perspective that the lawyers of the [brothers] have, I believe that that should be heard. I believe that a lot has changed since the mid-’90s when this case was tried, and I think people understand this topic a lot more and have the bandwidth and the education.” One can’t help but feel that his personal opinion differs from the show’s narrative, but oh well.

And as of writing this, it has just been reported that Erik and Lyle Menendez will receive a new hearing in Los Angeles amidst new evidence pertaining to the case. The hearing has been set for November 29, 2024, more than 28 years after they were convicted.

At the height of the O.J. Simpson trial, People Magazine surveyed portions of the public, which revealed that most were more aware of who Kato Kaelin was rather than American Vice President, Al Gore (Kaelin was a key witness in the O.J. Simpson case, and his face was plastered on every gossip magazine across the country). This was before social media, and a prescient foreshadowing of what was to come in the age of instant, high octane media spectacle.

In Dan Gilroy’s 2014 masterpiece Nightcrawler, in which Jake Gyllenhaal plays an unscrupulous photojournalist who sells violent, sensational footage to news networks, we catch a sobering glimpse of what the public is interested in. When he approaches a network executive, played by Rene Russo, with some footage of gang related crime in Los Angeles, she tells him that the public has no interest in predictable chaos, no matter how harrowing it may be. She tells him, “We find our viewers are more interested in urban crime creeping into the suburbs. What that means is a victim or victims, preferably well-off and/or white, injured at the hands of the poor, or a minority.”

But what happens when the affluent are killed not by the poor, but by their own equally affluent offspring or spouse? Well, then you harness the fascination of the entire planet.

Anton Brisinger

Los Angeles native, Anton Brisinger is the lifestyle editor at Esquire Middle East. He really hates it when he asks for 'no tomatoes' and they don't listen. @antonbrisingerr