Ryan Murphy Knocks Menéndez Family’s ‘Knee-Jerk’ Reaction to ‘Monsters’ (Exclusive)

• Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story premiered on Netflix Sept. 19 and elicited negative responses from Erik and the Menéndez family
• Murphy tells PEOPLE he finds the family’s response to be “faux outrage” and he doesn’t “understand what the family can claim didn’t happen” in the show
• The Emmy winner says of Monsters, “We’re not presenting any of it as truth. We’re presenting it as someone’s opinion.”

Ryan Murphy doesn’t mind being a bit controversial.

Murphy’s latest show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story drew criticism from Erik Menéndez and his relatives, with his family calling the Netflix series “phobic, gross, anachronistic” and “riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods” in a Sept. 25 social media statement.

“I feel like that’s faux outrage,” Murphy, 58, tells PEOPLE. “Because if you look at what we do, we give those boys so much airtime to talk about what they claim as their physical abuse. We live in a sort of culture of outrage that a lot of things are knee-jerk, and that’s fine. I’m used to being controversial. It’s not new to me.”

The 38-time Emmy nominee calls the series “the best thing that has happened to the Menéndez brothers in 30 years” since it’s thrust their case back into the spotlight. 

“It’s everywhere. Their case is suddenly a water cooler conversation,” Murphy says. “A lot of people think that they were dealt a bad hand in that second trial, a lot of people think they should get a new trial, and I think having those conversations are good. And I know that from prison, the boys have told people in prison that they’re glad about this show because it is launching so many conversations. So, if we’re doing anything that can further a conversation about abuse and also ask the question is, ‘was that second trial fair?’ then I did my job.”

Monsters revisits the story of Erik and Lyle Menéndez, two brothers who shot their parents José and Kitty to death in 1989 after years of what they claimed to be physical abuse at the hand of their father. While the brothers initially tried to pin the murders on the mafia, Erik, now 53, eventually confessed to his therapist that he and Lyle, now 56, committed the crime.

Police arrested Lyle on March 8, 1990, and Erik turned himself in three days later after returning from a trip to Israel. The brothers stood trial twice, first in July 1993, which the judge declared a mistrial since the jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision about whether Erik and Lyle should be convicted of murder or manslaughter.

Erik and Lyle went back to court in October 1995, and during the trial, the jury dismissed claims about the boys’ claims about their father’s abuse. The jury found Erik and Lyle guilty of first-degree murder and they were sentenced to life in prison.

The Menéndez family stated that they find the “character assassination” of Erik and Lyle in Monsters to be “repulsive” and alleged that Murphy, Netflix and those involved with the series don’t have “an understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.”

“I don’t know what story they would want to be told,” Murphy says. “How do you assassinate the character of two people who killed their own parents? I find that an interesting choice of words, and I don’t agree with it. Also, I think maybe they don’t even think it’s true. And 65% of the show is dedicated to [Erik and Lyle’s] point of view that, ‘We were sexually abused and that’s why we did what we did.’ We say that over and over and over, so I don’t understand what the family can claim didn’t happen because we’re presenting everything that happened as an opinion of other people.”

Murphy clarifies that “we are not doing a documentary on the Menéndez brothers” with Monsters. Rather, “I was interested in doing something about everybody involved in this case, including the parents and their perspectives,” he says.

Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan’s decision to include mentions of incest between Erik and Lyle has drawn particular criticism. But Murphy says he believes “people are confused about that” piece of the story.

“We’re not presenting any of it as truth,” he reiterates. “We’re presenting it as someone’s opinion. All of that stuff is woven into a narrative that Dominick Dunne talked about in articles. It was also thrown up in court several times. I’m not saying that it happened. I’m not saying that it didn’t happen. I’m saying that it was a part of the big folkloric tapestry of that case that might have swayed juries in a certain way or not. I was interested in that. When I read the family’s comments about that, I don’t think that they really understand. I don’t think they’ve seen it because if they had seen it, they would know that.”

The father of three thinks Monsters “is so controversial” because of the complexity of the story.

“People aren’t comfortable with the idea that two things can be possible at the same time. They want good guys and bad guys. They don’t want complicated guys,” Murphy says. “I think Eric and Lyle did monstrous things — not just the murders, but the other crimes they committed. I think they were morally corrupt at a young age. If you believe the testimony and if you believe the evidence, I think the parents were also monsters.

“But the family says, I’m a monster because I dared to discuss it, and that’s okay. I don’t mind being complicated. I know that my intentions were good. We just really wanted people to talk about this topic and it’s an uncomfortable topic, which I get.”

Murphy hopes the show “show ultimately leads to something positive for those two brothers,” including a reexamining of their case.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say they should be freed, but I think that their case should be re-examined, and I think new evidence should be presented,” he says. “If that case was tried and all of the evidence was allowed in today, I think they probably would’ve been charged and found guilty of manslaughter and they would be out of jail now. Did they go too far? Yes. Were they, out of their minds at the time? Yes. But they’ve been model prisoners. I’ve talked to people in the prison who claim they are totally rehabilitated and can actually do good for society in some capacity now, and I think that deserves to be looked at.”

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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is streaming now on Netflix.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.