Ever since its release on September 19, the Netflix anthology series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has been making buzz among audiences and critics alike. Created by writer and director Ryan Murphy of American Horror Story, Glee, Feud, Ratched, etc., and co-creator of Glee, Ian Brennan, the 9-episode true crime series is topping the Netflix charts around. It reportedly garnered 12.3 million views in its first weekend.
However, the show has received slack from the critics for being repetitive, bloated, titillating, and insensitive towards its concerned subjects - the titular Menendez brothers who killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Fernandez, on August 20, 1989.
Further, Erik Menendez has been highly critical of his brother’s portrayal in the show, slamming co-creator Ryan Murphy. The brothers are currently serving a lifetime sentence for first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder without the possibility of parole at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in California since 1996.
Brothers Joseph Lyle Menendez and Erik Galen Menendez were born to a mixed ethnicity of White and Hispanic lineage. In 1986, the brothers moved to a mansion in Beverly Hills, California, owing to their father’s appointment as CEO of the famed Live Entertainment (now known as Artisan Entertainment), where the dreaded event took place.
The brothers, Lyle and Erik, were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the unfortunate and much-publicized event.
What is the ethnicity of the Menendez Brothers?
The eldest son, Lyle Menendez, was born in New York on January 10, 1968. After Lyle’s birth, the family shifted to New Jersey, where Erik was born three years later.
The Menendez brothers belonged to a multicultural lineage owing to their father, a Cuban immigrant born and raised in Havana, and their mother’s suburban middle-class Chicago upbringing.
Before the fateful event, Lyle attended Princeton University, where he was eventually suspended because of proven charges of plagiarism.
On the other hand, Erik displayed a remarkable penchant for tennis. He was ranked 44th among Junior US players and participated in the Boys’ Junior National Tennis championship in 1989, a couple of weeks before the murders.
What is the ethnicity and history of the Menendez Brothers' parents?
The patriarch of the Menendez family, Jose Enrique Hernandez, was born in 1944. His father was the proprietor of an accounting firm and a soccer player, and his mother was a celebrated swimmer in Cuba.
Jose had two sisters and an apparently normal childhood. However, in 1960, his parents sent him to the United States because of the ensuing political chaos in his homeland due to the Cuban Revolution.
On the other hand, Mary Louise "Kitty" Anderson was born to Mae and Charles Anderson. Kitty and her three siblings grew up around Oak Lawn, Illinois; her father owned an air conditioning and heating business.
As per reports, Charles Anderson demonstrated extremely abusive behavior towards Mae and his three children, which made Kitty depressed, aloof, withdrawn, and facing significant problems communicating with people as she entered adulthood. However, according to reports, Kitty also participated in beauty pageants in Chicago.
Kitty and Jose met at a debate class at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. They married in 1963 and relocated to New York to continue Jose’s academic pursuits at Queens College.
Around this time, Jose worked as a dishwasher to make ends meet, and Kitty worked as a teacher until their first child, Lyle, was born. After graduation, Jose got a job as an accountant for Coopers and Lybrand. Later, he went to work for Hertz Rental Cars as the Manager of Commercial Leasing.
After RCA acquired Hertz, Jose started working for RCA Records on record deals for famous artists like Jose Feliciano, the Boy band Menudo, and Duran Duran, among others.
Later, he transitioned to Carolco Pictures, acquired by International Video Entertainment in 1986. Jose made a profit for the company and strengthened his name in the business.
Because of the ambitious and charismatic Jose, the Menendez family rose to the ranks of elites and was considered well-reputed in the entertainment industry. However, after Jose’s murder, it was revealed by his colleagues and associates that Jose was known to be insensitive, fearful, and belittling towards everyone and was largely manipulative and profit-oriented.
Jose was said to be immensely controlling of his sons’ lives and careers, even controlling his sons' romantic interactions, as revealed in various legal testimonies in the highly publicized trial.
Further, his relationship with Kitty also became strained due to his entanglement in multiple extra-marital affairs. As per her therapist’s testimony, Kitty was sui*idal, was dependent on her husband, and had a history of alcoholism and consuming pills.
Why did the Menendez Brothers kill their parents?
Initially, the prosecutors theorized that the brothers killed Kitty and Jose Menendez because they were excluded from the family inheritance, which amounted to $14 million. However, in the later days of the much-publicized trial, it was alleged by the brothers that they both were subjected to s*xual abuse by their parents.
Lyle claimed that he was s*xually abused by his father between 6 to 8 years of age. He also mentioned that his mother insisted on bathing him till he was 13, along with numerous other instances of inappropriate behavior till his teenage years.
Erik was allegedly molested regularly from his young days till the lethal event. As per their extended family members, some of them downright denied the claims, but Kitty’s older sister Joan, Lyle, and Erik’s cousins Brian and Andy testified positively to the accusations against the parents.
In 2023, it was corroborated by Roy Rossello, a member of the boy band Menudo, that Jose allegedly drugged and r*ped him back in the day, further giving the attorneys for the Menendez brothers to solidify their claims of abuse against their father and presumably getting out of the prison.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available to stream on Netflix.
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