Controversy erupts over trailer to new Netflix true crime drama

Netflix today dropped the first look at Ryan Murphy’s next true crime drama - but many viewers are concerned at what they see.

Netflix today dropped the first look at Ryan Murphy’s next true crime-inspired drama, MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

The series based on a brutal real-life double murder will premiere on the platform on September 19 – but the first, minute-long look at the show has already been met with controversy.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the gunshot murders of their parents in 1989. During their trial, the brothers alleged their father had subjected them to years of sexual and physical abuse, and claimed their mother was aware of what was going on, and that they had shot their parents out of fear their father would kill them first.

The prosecution argued that they instead killed their parents to inherit their millions, pointing to their lavish spending sprees after the deaths and before they were officially named suspects and arrested.

Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem play the Menendez brothers’ parents.

The brief teaser trailer for Murphy’s spin on the story shows the Menendez family – mother Kitty (Chloë Sevigny), father Jose (Javier Bardem) and sons Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) — as they pose for a family picture.

While the family smile for the camera, in voiceover, Kitty can be heard demanding her husband tell her “what’s going on with him and the boys?”

“I don’t want there to be any more lies between us. I won’t tell anyone,” she tells him, while Jose can be heard saying: “It’s over. I’m going to fix this family.”

The second part of the teaser has so far proven more contentious: The camera cuts to the Menendez brothers, shirtlessly hugging, their arms wrapped around each other in an intimate embrace.

The trailer shows the brothers stripped to the waist …

… then locked in a blood-spattered embrace.

That image has left many confused, with some laying the blame at Hollywood super producer Murphy, the man behind true crime hits like The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as well as schlockier fare like Scream Queens and American Horror Story.

“Why are they kinda framed as lovers in an intimate embrace?” asked one person on X, where the teaser has been viewed more than a million times.

“Okay but why are they hugging topless besides Ryan Murphy?” someone else queried.

“Why does this guy try and make literally everything sexual,” another complained.

Another X user called it “gross” that the Menendez brothers were “being portrayed in their underwear in this hypersexualised homoerotic way.”

The real-life Menendez brothers are serving life in prison.

“Netflix please remember that the brothers are victims and survivors FIRST and anything else comes second. be respectful to what they went through please,” begged one commenter on YouTube.

Others praised the trailer, though, saying they had faith Murphy would offer a nuanced look at the infamous case.

“I love the symbolism. kitty and jose were obsessed with the image of their family. everything had to be seen in a certain way. but now that they’re dead? the facade is gone and the boys are stripped down. they’re vulnerable,” read one top comment on YouTube.

Both Menendez brothers were found guilty of their parents’ murders in 1996 and are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.