Here's how celebs are reacting to Menéndez brothers' 'Monsters' season

The 'Monsters' discourse is discoursing!

Ryan Murphy's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story series for Netflix has reignited the discourse surrounding the Menéndez brothers' imprisonment for murdering their parents.

While this criminal case had already gotten the Hollywood treatment a few times, Monsters had a different enough take on the story — along with the global reach of Netflix as a streaming service — that put this story on the map in a way that it had never been before. The polarizing series has received mixed reviews from viewers, a very negative reaction from the Menéndez family members, and a few supportive responses from the cast and crew of the show in an attempt to explain its intent.

So, without further ado, here's an overlook of how the series is being discussed from various different standpoints.

Scroll through to check out how celebrities and involved parties have reacted, responded, and/or commented on the case of the Menéndez brothers following the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, now streaming on Netflix.

Cooper Koch

Erik Menéndez was brought to life by Cooper Koch, who delivered a truly impressive, nuanced performance of this real person within the confines of the Netflix series.

One of the standout comments shared by Koch pertained to whether or not he believed that the Menéndez brothers had an incestuous relationship between them.

"I do not think that's true, and I don't think it was intended by the show to make or break that truth," Koch told Variety. "I think that was just a theory that one person had… and that got put into the show because that person was a character in the show. I stand with Erik and everything that he says in his testimony. I believe to be his truth, and I believe him."

Erik Menéndez

The actual, real-life Erik Menéndez issued a rare statement reacting to the Netflix series, which was shared on social media by his wife, Tammi Menéndez. Unsurprisingly, Erik's negative reaction to Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story did have an impact on the cast and crew attached to the show.

"I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show," the X post with Erik's statement read. I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent."

He continued:

"It is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — 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. Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander."

"Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma," the statement concluded. "Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic. As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Nicholas Alexander Chavez

The other Menéndez brother, Lyle, was played by actor Nicholas Alexander Chavez. When asked to comment on the Menéndez family's negative reaction to the series, Chavez explained how he manages to keep some distance between himself and his acting roles.

"My view is that, as an actor, you come in and you play a part," Chavez told Entertainment Tonight. "And then, at the end of the day, you need to have the grace to be able to say, 'That was a role that I played, and it was a job that I had.' [But] then you need to let it go, and you need to move on to the next project."

The Menéndez Family

Lyle and Erik's aunt, Joan VanderMolen, also issued a statement that was shared as an X post:

"We are virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menéndez. We are 24 strong, and today we want the world to know we support Erik and Lyle," the statement read. "We individually and collectively pray for their release after being imprisoned for 35 years. We know them, love them, and want them home with us."

"Ryan Murphy's 'Monsters, the Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story' is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations," VanderMolen added. "Our family has been victimized by this grotesque shockadrama. Murphy claims he spent years researching the case but in the end relied on debunked Dominick Dunne, the pro-prosecution hack, to justify his slander against us and never spoke to us."

The statement continued, "The character assassination of Erik and Lyle, who are our nephews and cousins, under the guise of a 'story telling narrative' is repulsive. We know these men. We grew up with them since they were boys. We love them and to this very day we are close to them. We also know what went on in their home and the unimaginably turbulent lives they have endured. Several of us were eyewitnesses to many atrocities one should never have to bear witness to."

VanderMolen concluded:

"It is sad that Ryan Murphy, Netflix, and all others involved in this series, do not have an understanding of the impact of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Perhaps, after all, Monsters is all about Ryan Murphy."

Ryan Murphy

As a veteran writer, director, and producer of projects within the realm of horror and true crime, Ryan Murphy — who co-created Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for Netflix — has now stood his ground several times when reacting to the statements shared by Erik Menéndez and the Menéndez family.

Of note, Murphy has argued that the series actually centers on the brothers' experience while providing other perspectives of the story. "I'd say 60 to 65% of our show, in the scripts and in the film form, center around the abuse, and what they claim happened to them," Murphy told Entertainment Tonight. "We do it very carefully, we give them their day in court, and they talk openly about it."

When asked by Variety if he'd like to meet the Menéndez brothers in person, Murphy replied:

"I have no interest in talking to them. It's very good that Cooper has a relationship with them, and I'm very close, obviously, with Kim Kardashian, who has spoken to them."

Murphy labeled the Menéndez controversy "faux outrage" in an interview with People, and added that this season of Monsters is "the best thing that has happened to the Menéndez brothers in 30 years."

In more recent interviews, Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that "the Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers," arguing that all this media attention could help their case in a significant way. Murphy subsequently predicted to Variety's Marc Malkin that the Menéndez brothers could "be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that."

Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem, who played José Menéndez on Monsters, discussed how society's toxic ideals for masculinity and the upbringing of men could've led to the father's dangerous and violent behaviors.

The actor told Tracy E. Gilchrist in an interview for Out:

"I think it comes with the time where the educational pattern that these people had, where 'a man is a man,' and you cannot express any emotion, and you can't share your weakness. And, of course, all that stupidity that comes with it, and that creates so much harm around him. There's still something in our education [of men] that is so wrong, and I think José Menéndez is an example of that."

Chloë Sevigny

Chloë Sevigny played the brother's mother, Mary Louise "Kitty" Menéndez, and focused her comments regarding this installment of Netflix's Monsters on the actual process of making the show.

"I think all of the creators and showrunners wanted, first and foremost, for Nicholas and Cooper to feel comfortable and to not do anything that they didn't want to do," Sevigny told Variety. "There were people there to protect them at all times on the sets. (…) Everything was done to ensure that they felt safe and protected, with intimacy coaches and so on."

Nathan Lane

Dominick Dunne, a Vanity Fair journalist who's brought to life by Nathan Lane on Monsters, turns out to be one of the most controversial characters of the entire series. After all, it is this character's perspective on the show that adds the "incestuous" element to the relationship between the Menéndez brothers.

"There's a dinner party scene at Chateau Marmont, and Dominick's discussing various theories of what he thinks happened with the brothers. That scene was originally 20 pages. I talked about it a lot more," Lane told Variety. "At one point, he says, 'Perhaps this is what happened' and suggests that there was an incestuous relationship between the two brothers, but that it had nothing to do with [their father] José, and that's what [their mother] Kitty knew about."

Lane added, "But it's just him theorizing. He's not saying that's what happened. He says this is another reason why they might have killed them. But he's just posing another theory. I guess we have to remind people that it's a dramatization and not a documentary."

Kim Kardashian

Last but certainly not least, Kim Kardashian entered the discourse surrounding Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story as an unlikely — but pretty relevant — voice.

During her infamous Actors on Actors interview alongside Chloë Sevigny, Kim recalled that she lived around the same neighborhood as the Menéndez. She grew up listening to this story and revealed that her father, the late Robert Kardashian, often drove her by the Menéndez home in Beverly Hills.

Kim, in the spirit of her work advocating for prison reform, chose to visit the real-life Menéndez brothers in prison alongside Monsters actor Cooper Koch. She then took things one step further and wrote an essay calling for Lyle and Erik to be released from prison.

"I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest men. In prison, they both have exemplary disciplinary records," the essay read. "They have earned multiple college degrees, worked as caregivers for elderly incarcerated individuals in hospice, and been mentors in college programs — committed to giving back to others."

Kim added, "When I visited the prison three weeks ago, one of the wardens told me he would feel comfortable having them as neighbors. Twenty-four family members, including their parents' siblings, have released statements fully supporting Lyle and Erik and have respectfully requested that the justice system free them."

Kim Kardashian's full essay can be read exclusively on NBC News.