(NewsNation) — Producer Ryan Murphy was “initially surprised” that the Menendez brothers spoke out against the hit Netflix show that renewed interest in their criminal case.
Murphy made the comments on a recent episode of the podcast “This Gavin Newsom,” sharing the brother’s reactions to “Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” when it first premiered.
“I was very surprised initially that the brothers spoke out so vociferously against it,” Murphy said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “And I was very surprised where, you know, two months ago, they thanked me and said, ‘Actually, you helped us.'”
Erik Menendez called show’s portrayal ‘vile and appalling‘
Following the September 2024 release of the show, Erik Menendez sharply criticized the “American Horror Story” creator, calling the portrayal of him and his brother “vile and appalling.”
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths several steps back — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women,” he said in a statement that was shared by his wife on X.
“So now [Ryan] Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,” he added.
Murphy responded to the statement by saying the Menendez brothers were expressing “faux outrage” and the show was the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years in prison.
In February, Lyle Menendez appeared on the “2 Angry Men” podcast and said they were “grateful” for the show and it “really did actually move a lot of people to understand the childhood trauma that Erik and I suffered,” EW reported at the time.
This combination of two booking photos provided by the California Department of Corrections shows Erik, left, and Lyle Menendez. (California Dept. of Corrections via AP, File) 
TRIAL OF THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS IN LOS ANGELES : Portrait of Erik Menendez. (Photo by Kim Kulish/Sygma via Getty Images) 
FILE – Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court during a hearing, Nov. 26, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) 
FILE – Lyle, left, and Erik Galen Menendez sit in Beverly Hills, Calif., courtroom, May 14, 1990 as a judge postponed their preliminary hearing on charges of murdering their parents last August. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File) 
Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a pre-trial hearing, on December 29, 1992 in Los Angeles after the two pleaded innocent in the August 1989 shotgun deaths of their wealthy parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, Calif. It took 40 months for the Superior Court arraignment after prosecutors and defense attorneys battled over the admissibility of taped confessions the brothers allegedly made to their psychotherapist. (Photo by VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty Images) 
FILE – Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave a courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., Aug. 6, 1990, after a judge ruled that conversations between the brothers and their psychologist after their parents were slain were not privileged and could be used as evidence. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) 
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit in Beverly Hills Municipal Court where their attorneys delayed making pleas on behalf of the brothers who are suspected in the murders of their parents on March 12, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Gavin Newsom would sign off on paroling the Menendez brothers
In May, the brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole over the murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home in 1989. They were initially sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
They are expected to appear before the California parole board in August, EW reports.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said that if the parole board recommended the brothers’ release, then he would sign off on the paperwork.