Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is storming the Netflix charts—but is the series an accurate retelling of one of the most infamous crime cases of the 90s? The Menendez brothers certainly don’t think so. "I can only believe they were done so on purpose," Erik said in a statement on Lyle’s Facebook page. "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." Ryan Murphy defended his show in an interview with ET. "Our view and what we wanted to do was present you all the facts and have you do two things: make up your own mind about who's innocent, who's guilty, and who's the monster, and also have a conversation about something that's never talked about in our culture, which is male sexual abuse, which we do responsibly." Here’s what the show gets right—and wrong.
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1. Wrong: Erik and Lyle’s Relationship
Netflix
Despite what the show heavily suggests, there is no evidence of an incestuous relationship between Erik and Lyle. "Rumors were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves, but I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified, that when Lyle was 8 years old, he took Erik out in the woods and played with him with a toothbrush — which is what [their father] José had done with him," Robert Rand, author of 2018 book The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menéndez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation, told The Hollywood Reporter. "I certainly wouldn’t call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It's a response to trauma."
2. Wrong: Shooting Details
Netflix In the show, Erik and Lyle approached their parents brandishing shotguns. José Menendez was shot at point-blank range so he wouldn’t have seen them coming, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
3. Wrong: No Alibi
ABC
Both brothers said (at the time) they were at the movies the night of the murders, but in reality they were both at home all night, which the series gets wrong. "Twelve shots in the middle of Beverly Hills on a Sunday night, and no one calls the police. We're waiting at the house, and no one shows up," Eriktold ABC News in 1996. "I still can't believe it. We didn't have an alibi, all we did was say we were at the movies."
4. Wrong: The Therapist Role
Netflix
While in the show therapist L. Jerome Oziel and his mistress Judalon Smyth go to the police after Lyle threatens him after confessing to the murders, it didn’t happen that way. The confession was made in October 1989, but the authorities weren’t told until March 1990. Oziel and Smyth had split, and Smyth was the one who tipped off the police.
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5. Wrong: Lyle Wrote a Book
Dove Entertainment Inc.
A woman called Norma Novelli says Lyle agreed to help her write a book, something he denies. She later sold the audio to Dove Books for $12,500, according to the Los Angeles Times.
1. Right: Lyle Was Bald
Netflix
In the show, Kitty Menendez rips a toupee off Lyle’s head in a rage, causing him pain. Lyle actually did lose his hair at an early age, and kept it from his brother. Lyle later says he felt comfortable enough after Erik saw him without the toupee to tell his younger brother their father was abusing him.
2. Right: Milli Vanilli
Netflix
Yes, Lyle did play Milli Vanilli's "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" at his parents’ memorial service. Rand also says several other songs from the now-infamous group were played at a memorial service at the Directors Guild of America on Aug. 25, 1989.
3. Right: Earthquake
Netflix
The Netflix series shows an earthquake happening during the trial. This really did happen—a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in January 1994, causing damage in the Van Nuys neighborhood where the trial was taking place.
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9. Right: Redacting Notes
Netflix
Psychiatrist William Vicary accused Erik's defense attorney Leslie Abramson of asking him to remove parts of his examination notes that could be incriminating. She was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
5. Right: Friends With O.J. Simpson
Shutterstock
Yes, Lyle and Erik had been friends with O.J. for years through their parents’ relationship with the star, and ended up in jail at the same time. "We were able to talk quite a bit," Lyle previously told PEOPLE. "We shared the same attorney [meeting] room and we were housed in the same area. My brother was in the cell next to him for most of his trial, so we had a lot of conversations."
