Erik and Lyle Menendez Embrace Shirtless in Trailer for Ryan Murphy’s Series

After the success of Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer series, the man behind Glee and American Horror Story turned his focus to another American tragedy. In September 2024, Netflix will release Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story which aims to offer a unique perspective on a well-known true crime tale.

A teaser trailer for the series was released in August 2024, stirring up quite a buzz on social media. The brief glimpse features actors portraying the brothers and their parents, showing Erik and Lyle in a rather intimate light. This has prompted speculation about the Menendez brothers’ sexuality. While we avoid conjecture at Distractify, there is some source material that Ryan Murphy might use to support this theory.

Neither Erik nor Lyle Menendez has publicly disclosed their sexual orientation. As of August 2024, both are still in prison and married to women. The polarizing imagery from the teaser trailer has fueled rumors, possibly originating with the late Dominick Dunne, who covered their trial for Vanity Fair.

In a 2017 biography titled Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne, author Robert Hofler notes Dunne’s fixation on Erik during the trial. This curiosity emerged when, for a brief moment, Dunne entertained the possibility that the brothers were innocent. This occurred on September 11, 1993, when Lyle took the stand and alleged he and Erik were sexually assaulted by their father, Jose Menendez.

Tears streaming down his face, Lyle described the abuse in detail, claiming that his father saw it as a bonding activity. He also confessed to sexually abusing Erik, apologizing profusely while looking at his brother. This testimony gave Dunne pause and led him to empathize with Erik.

Prosecutor Pamela Bozanich told Dunne, “There was a strain of homosexuality running through the trial.” She claimed, “We knew Erik was gay and having oral sex with the inmates.” Dunne, who also hid his homosexuality and was raised by an overbearing father, became fascinated with Erik, who at one point had risqué photos taken by photographer Philip Kearney. Dunne described their relationship as “more physical than it was spiritual,” with massages often leading to other activities.

Hofler’s biography of Dunne also mentions that he made copies of a shirtless photo of Erik and showed them to people, saying, “He could be a Calvin Klein model.” Perhaps Ryan Murphy will draw from these stories for his series, though no one has suggested Erik and Lyle were physical with each other beyond the sexual assault alleged by Lyle on the stand.

The teaser trailer begins with a family portrait taken in 1988, a year before the murders. In it, Jose, Lyle, and Erik are dressed in dark suits with khaki pants and red ties, while Kitty wears a red blouse. The family smiles but there’s no physical contact. Knowing what we know now gives the photograph a darker undertone.

The trailer then shifts from this picture being taken to a scene where Erik and Lyle hug each other while shirtless. As their parents leave, Erik and Lyle remain standing a few feet apart. Suddenly, the scene changes to the brothers in a dark room, moving into an intimate embrace. A gunshot is heard, adding blood to Lyle’s face, followed by a voice saying, “It’s just us now. We’re on our own.”

Source: Getty Images