Resurgence of the Menendez Brothers Case After Netflix Show and Documentary
By Gabby Montilus
The popularity of the recent release of “Monsters” directed by Ryan Murphy, has brought a lot of new attention to the Menendez Brothers case. Erik and Lyle Menendez were arrested on March 8th, 1990 for murdering their parents José and Mary Louise Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. Originally, when this case was first opened, the public believed that the brothers killed their parents to gain their $14 million fortune. On the contrary, Erik and Lyle Menendez had been getting physically, sexually, and emotionally abused by their father from a young age and testified to murdering their parents due to fear for their lives. “Monsters” and the new documentary series “The Menendez Brothers” have caused a resurgence in internet interest in the two brothers. On the other hand, the documentary series “The Menendez Brothers” released on October 7th takes a more serious approach to the issue. This series consists of the actual Menendez Brothers speaking to the public through recorded phone calls being made from Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. This series allows the brothers to finally speak to the public for the first time in 30 years, with a new sense of understanding from society. What is said by the brothers in the documentary series consists of the opinions of law enforcement working on the case at the time, such as their confusion as to how the police weren’t able to catch them sooner. They also discuss their broken states of mind after committing the murder and how they are grateful for the opportunity to finally talk to the public freely about what they experienced. Overall, this case is currently in the works of being reopened due to new evidence. Kim Kardashian is the legal attorney currently working on this case, and as of now, there has been a hearing set for November 29th.
“Monsters” is a nine-episode Netflix series released on October 7th with actors Nicholas Chavez (Lyle) and Cooper Koch (Erik) depicting the lives of the brothers when this murder happened. This series, however, has a lot of inaccuracies when it comes to the emotional states and behaviors of the brothers after the murder. Erik Menendez states that this series paints a “horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slander.” It is not just him who sees this, relatives of the brothers agree that this series truly does make them seem like monsters when that’s not who they are. Murphy disagrees and even believes that the brothers should be sending him flowers due to how much attention his series has brought to their case.
Aside from the drama building from the inaccurate information showcased in this series, Murphy’s series did not only get more attention on the brothers’ case but also to the song “Blame it on the Rain” by Milli Vanilli. There is a scene in the show where Chavez and Koch are shown driving in their car singing this song which has caused TikTok users to go crazy over Nicholas Chavez’s attractiveness. Verified TikTokers like Kaylor from the most recent season of Love Island USA have posted lip syncing videos to this sound raving about Chavez. Not only are people just lip syncing and dancing to this song, but there are also a lot of edits of this scene, with the main focus being Chavez. This sound now has 91.9k posts, and will most likely keep growing. The new popularity of this sound has also allowed for the song’s streaming activity to increase by 68% since “Monsters” was released.
On the other hand, the documentary series “The Menendez Brothers” released on October 7th takes a more serious approach to the issue. This series consists of the actual Menendez Brothers speaking to the public through recorded phone calls being made from Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. This series allows the brothers to finally speak to the public for the first time in 30 years, with a new sense of understanding from society. What is said by the brothers in the documentary series consists of the opinions of law enforcement working on the case at the time, such as their confusion as to how the police weren’t able to catch them sooner. They also discuss their broken states of mind after committing the murder and how they are grateful for the opportunity to finally talk to the public freely about what they experienced. Overall, this case is currently in the works of being reopened due to new evidence. Kim Kardashian is the legal attorney currently working on this case, and as of now, there has been a hearing set for November 29th.
